Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - Wikipedia

Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - Wikipedia
Jump to content
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1945 attacks in Japan during WWII
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Part of the
Pacific War
Atomic bomb
mushroom clouds
over Hiroshima (left) and Nagasaki (right)
Type
Nuclear bombing
Location
Hiroshima
and
Nagasaki
, Japan
34°23′41″N
132°27′17″E
 / 
34.39472°N 132.45472°E
 /
34.39472; 132.45472
32°46′25″N
129°51′48″E
 / 
32.77361°N 129.86333°E
 /
32.77361; 129.86333
Commanded by
William S. Parsons
Paul Tibbets
Robert A. Lewis
Charles Sweeney
Frederick Ashworth
Date
6 and 9 August 1945
; 80 years ago
1945-08-09
Executed by
United States
Manhattan Project
509th Composite Group
Casualties
Hiroshima:
90,000–166,000 killed
80,000–156,000 civilians
10,000 soldiers
12 Allied prisoners of war
Nagasaki:
60,000–80,000 killed
60,000–80,000 civilians
150 soldiers
8–13 Allied prisoners of war
Total killed (by end of 1945):
150,000–246,000
Pacific War
Central Pacific
Pearl Harbor
Marshalls–Gilberts raids
Doolittle Raid
Midway
Gilberts and Marshalls
Marianas and Palau
Volcano and Ryukyu
Truk
Ocean Island
Indian Ocean (1941–1945)
Japanese merchant raids
Andaman Islands
Homfreyganj massacre
Christmas Island
1st Indian Ocean
Ceylon
Bay of Bengal
2nd Indian Ocean
Southeast Asia
Indochina (1940)
Franco-Thai War
Thailand
Malaya
Hong Kong
Singapore
Indochina (1945)
Malacca Strait
Vietnam
Jurist
Tiderace
Zipper
Strategic bombing (1944–45)
Burma and India
Burma (1941–42)
Burma (1942–43)
Burma and India (1944)
Burma (1944–45)
Southwest Pacific
Dutch East Indies (1941–42)
Philippines (1941–42)
RY
Solomon Islands
Coral Sea
Timor
Australia
New Guinea
New Britain
Philippines (1944–45)
Borneo (1945)
North America
Ellwood
Aleutian Islands
Estevan Point Lighthouse
Fort Stevens
Lookout Air Raids
Fire balloon bombs
Project Hula
PX
Japan
Air raids
Tokyo
Yokosuka
Kure
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Mariana Islands
Japanese-Italian War
Volcano and Ryukyu Islands
Starvation
Naval bombardments
Sagami Bay
South Sakhalin
Kuril Islands
Shumshu
Downfall
Japanese surrender
Manchuria and Northern Korea
Kantokuen
Manchuria (1945)
Mutanchiang
Chongjin
Second Sino-Japanese War
On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two
atomic bombs
over the Japanese cities of
Hiroshima
and
Nagasaki
, respectively, during the final days of
World War II
. The aerial bombings killed 150,000 to 246,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the first and only uses of
nuclear weapons in an armed conflict
In the final year of World War II, the
Allies
prepared for a costly
invasion of the Japanese mainland
. This undertaking was preceded by a
conventional bombing and firebombing campaign
that devastated 64 Japanese cities, including an
operation on Tokyo
. The
war in Europe
concluded when
Germany surrendered
on 8 May 1945, and the Allies turned their full attention to the
Pacific War
. By July 1945, the Allies'
Manhattan Project
had produced two types of atomic bombs: "
Little Boy
", an
enriched uranium
gun-type fission weapon
, and "
Fat Man
", a
plutonium
implosion-type nuclear weapon
. The
509th Composite Group
of the
U.S. Army Air Forces
was trained and equipped with the specialized
Silverplate
version of the
Boeing B-29 Superfortress
, and deployed to
Tinian
in the
Mariana Islands
. The Allies called for the
unconditional surrender
of the
Imperial Japanese Armed Forces
in the
Potsdam Declaration
on 26 July 1945, the alternative being "prompt and utter destruction". The Japanese government
ignored
the ultimatum.
Japan announced its surrender
to the Allies on 15 August, six days after the bombing of Nagasaki and the
Soviet Union's declaration of war against Japan
and
invasion of Manchuria
. The Japanese government signed an
instrument of surrender
on 2 September,
ending the war
The consent of the United Kingdom was obtained for the bombing, as was required by the
Quebec Agreement
, and orders were issued on 25 July by
General
Thomas T. Handy
, the acting
chief of staff of the U.S. Army
, for atomic bombs to be used on Hiroshima,
Kokura
Niigata
, and Nagasaki. These targets were chosen because they were large urban areas that also held significant military facilities. On 6 August, a Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima. Three days later, a Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki. Over the next two to four months, the
effects of the atomic bombings
killed 90,000 to 166,000 people in Hiroshima and 60,000 to 80,000 people in Nagasaki; roughly half the deaths occurred on the first day. For months afterward, many people continued to die from the effects of burns,
radiation sickness
, and other injuries, compounded by illness and malnutrition. Despite Hiroshima's sizable military garrison, estimated at 24,000 troops, some 90% of the dead were civilians.
Scholars have extensively studied the effects of the bombings on the social and political character of subsequent world history and
popular culture
, and there is still
much debate
concerning the ethical and legal justification for the bombings as well as their ramifications of geopolitics especially with the context of the
Cold War
. Supporters argue that the atomic bombings were necessary to bring an end to the war with minimal casualties and ultimately prevented a greater loss of life on both sides, and also assert that the demonstration of atomic weaponry created the
Long Peace
in the interest of preventing a nuclear war. Conversely, critics argue that the bombings were unnecessary for the war's end and were a
war crime
, raising moral and ethical implications, and also assert that future use of atomic weaponry is more likely than anticipated and could lead to a
nuclear holocaust
Background
Atomic bomb development
Main article:
Manhattan Project
Leslie Groves
Manhattan Project
director, with a map of the Far East
The discovery of
nuclear fission
in 1938 made the development of an atomic bomb a theoretical possibility.
Fears that a
German atomic bomb project
would develop atomic weapons first, especially among scientists who were refugees from Nazi Germany and other fascist countries, were expressed in the
Einstein–Szilard letter
to Roosevelt in 1939. This prompted preliminary research in the United States in late 1939.
Progress was slow until the arrival of the British
MAUD Committee
report in late 1941, which indicated that only 5 to 10 kilograms of
isotopically
-pure
uranium-235
were needed for a bomb instead of tons of natural uranium and a
neutron moderator
like
heavy water
Consequently, the work was accelerated, first as a pilot program, and finally in the agreement by Roosevelt to turn the work over to the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
to construct the production facilities necessary to produce uranium-235 and
plutonium-239
. This work was consolidated within the newly created Manhattan Engineer District, which became better known as the
Manhattan Project
, eventually under the direction of Major General
Leslie R. Groves, Jr.
The work of the Manhattan Project took place at dozens of sites across the United States, and even some outside of its borders. It would ultimately cost over US$2 billion (equivalent to about $28 billion in 2024)
and employ over 125,000 people simultaneously at its peak. Groves appointed
J. Robert Oppenheimer
to organize and head the project's
Los Alamos Laboratory
in
New Mexico
, where bomb design work was carried out.
Two different types of bombs were eventually developed: a
gun-type fission weapon
that used uranium-235, called
Little Boy
, and a more complex
implosion-type nuclear weapon
that used plutonium-239, called
Fat Man
There was a
Japanese nuclear weapon program
, but it lacked the human, mineral, and financial resources of the Manhattan Project, and never made much progress towards developing an atomic bomb.
Pacific War
Main article:
Pacific War
Situation of the Pacific War on 1 August 1945
White and green: Areas controlled by Japan
Red: Areas controlled by the Allies
Gray: Areas controlled by the Soviet Union (neutral)
In 1945, the Pacific War between the
Empire of Japan
and the
Allies
entered its fourth year. Most Japanese military units fought fiercely, ensuring that the Allied victory would come at an enormous cost. The 1.25 million battle casualties incurred in total by the United States in World War II included both
military personnel
killed in action
and
wounded in action
. Nearly one million of the casualties occurred during the last year of the war, from June 1944 to June 1945. In December 1944, American battle casualties hit an all-time monthly high of 88,000 as a result of the German
Ardennes Offensive
. Worried by the losses sustained, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
suggested the use of atomic bombs on Germany as soon as possible, but was informed the first usable atomic weapons were still months away.
America's reserves of manpower were running out. Deferments for groups such as agricultural workers were tightened, and there was consideration of drafting women. At the same time, the public was becoming war-weary, and demanding that long-serving servicemen be sent home.
10
In the Pacific, the Allies
returned to the Philippines
11
recaptured Burma
12
and
invaded Borneo
13
Offensives were undertaken to reduce the Japanese forces remaining in
Bougainville
New Guinea
and the Philippines.
14
In April 1945, American forces
landed on Okinawa
, where heavy fighting continued until June. Along the way, the ratio of Japanese to American casualties dropped from five to one in the Philippines to two to one on Okinawa.
10
Although some Japanese soldiers were
taken prisoner
, most fought until they were killed or committed
suicide
. Nearly 99 percent of the 21,000 defenders of
Iwo Jima
were killed. Of the 117,000 Okinawan and Japanese troops defending
Okinawa
in April to June 1945, 94 percent were killed;
15
7,401 Japanese soldiers surrendered, an unprecedentedly large number.
16
As the Allies advanced towards Japan, conditions became steadily worse for the Japanese people. Japan's merchant fleet declined from 5,250,000
gross register tons
in 1941 to 1,560,000 tons in March 1945, and 557,000 tons in August 1945. The lack of raw materials forced the Japanese war economy into a steep decline after the middle of 1944. The civilian economy, which had slowly deteriorated throughout the war, reached disastrous levels by the middle of 1945. The loss of shipping also affected the fishing fleet, and the 1945 catch was only 22 percent of that in 1941. The 1945 rice harvest was the worst since 1909, and hunger and malnutrition became widespread. U.S. industrial production was overwhelmingly superior to Japan's. By 1943, the U.S. produced almost 100,000 aircraft a year, compared to Japan's production of 70,000 for the entire war. In February 1945, Prince
Fumimaro Konoe
advised Emperor
Hirohito
that defeat was inevitable, and urged him to abdicate.
17
Preparations to invade Japan
Main article:
Operation Downfall
U.S. Army propaganda poster
depicting
Uncle Sam
preparing the public for the invasion of Japan after the end of the war with Germany and Italy
Even before the
surrender of Nazi Germany
on 8 May 1945, plans were underway for the largest operation of the Pacific War,
Operation Downfall
, the Allied invasion of Japan.
18
The operation had two parts: set to begin in October 1945,
Operation Olympic
involved a series of landings by the U.S.
Sixth Army
intended to capture the southern third of the southernmost main Japanese island,
Kyūshū
19
This was to be followed in March 1946 by
Operation Coronet
, the capture of the
Kantō Plain
, near Tokyo on the main Japanese island of
Honshu
by the U.S.
First
Eighth
and
Tenth
Armies, as well as a
Commonwealth Corps
made up of Australian, British and Canadian divisions. The target date was chosen to allow for Olympic to complete its objectives, for troops to be redeployed from Europe, and the
Japanese winter
to pass.
20
Japan's geography
made this invasion plan obvious to the Japanese; they were able to predict the Allied invasion plans accurately and thus adjust their defensive plan,
Operation Ketsugō
, accordingly. The Japanese planned an all-out defense of Kyūshū, with little left in reserve.
21
In all, there were 2.3 million
Japanese Army
troops prepared to defend the home islands, backed by a
civilian militia
of 28 million. Casualty predictions varied widely, but were extremely high. The Vice Chief of the
Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff
Vice Admiral
Takijirō Ōnishi
, predicted up to 20 million Japanese deaths.
22
The Americans were alarmed by the Japanese buildup, which was accurately tracked through
Ultra
intelligence.
23
On 15 June 1945, a study by the Joint War Plans Committee,
24
drawing on the experience of the
Battle of Leyte
, estimated that Downfall would result in 132,500 to 220,000 U.S. casualties, with U.S. dead and missing in the range from 27,500 to 50,000.
25
Secretary of War
Henry L. Stimson
commissioned his own study by
Quincy Wright
and
William Shockley
, who estimated the invading Allies would suffer between 1.7 and 4 million casualties, of whom between 400,000 and 800,000 would be dead, while Japanese fatalities would have been around 5 to 10 million.
26
27
In a meeting with the President and commanders on 18 June 1945, General
George C. Marshall
stated that "there was reason to believe" casualties for the first 30 days would not exceed the price paid for
Luzon
. Additionally, with the Japanese position rendered "hopeless" by an invasion of their mainland, Marshall speculated that Soviet entry into the war might be "the decisive action" needed to finally "[leverage] them into capitulation."
28
Marshall began contemplating the use of a weapon that was "readily available and which assuredly can decrease the cost in American lives:"
poison gas
29
Quantities of
phosgene
mustard gas
tear gas
and
cyanogen chloride
were moved to
Luzon
from stockpiles in Australia and New Guinea in preparation for Operation Olympic, and MacArthur ensured that
Chemical Warfare Service
units were trained in their use.
29
Consideration was also given to using
biological weapons
30
Air raids on Japan
Main article:
Air raids on Japan
A B-29 over Osaka on 1 June 1945
While the United States had developed plans for an air campaign against Japan prior to the Pacific War, the capture of Allied bases in the western Pacific in the first weeks of the conflict meant that this offensive did not begin until mid-1944 when the long-ranged
Boeing B-29 Superfortress
became ready for use in combat.
31
Operation Matterhorn
involved India-based B-29s staging through bases around
Chengdu
in China to make a series of raids on strategic targets in Japan.
32
This effort failed to achieve the strategic objectives that its planners had intended, largely because of logistical problems, the bomber's mechanical difficulties, the vulnerability of Chinese staging bases, and the extreme range required to reach key Japanese cities.
33
Brigadier General
Haywood S. Hansell
determined that
Guam
Tinian
, and
Saipan
in the
Mariana Islands
would better serve as B-29 bases, but they were in Japanese hands.
34
Strategies were shifted to accommodate the air war,
35
and the
islands were captured
between June and August 1944. Air bases were developed,
36
and B-29 operations commenced from the Marianas in October 1944.
37
The
XXI Bomber Command
began missions against Japan on 18 November 1944.
38
The early attempts to bomb Japan from the Marianas proved just as ineffective as the China-based B-29s had been. Hansell continued the practice of conducting so-called high-altitude
precision bombing
, aimed at key industries and transportation networks, even after these tactics had not produced acceptable results.
39
These efforts proved unsuccessful due to logistical difficulties with the remote location, technical problems with the new and advanced aircraft, unfavorable weather conditions, and enemy action.
40
41
The
Operation Meetinghouse
firebombing of Tokyo
on the night of 9–10 March 1945, was the single deadliest air raid in history,
42
with a greater area of fire damage and loss of life than either of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima or Nagasaki.
43
44
Hansell's successor,
Major General
Curtis LeMay
, assumed command in January 1945 and initially continued to use the same precision bombing tactics, with equally unsatisfactory results. The attacks initially targeted key industrial facilities but much of the Japanese manufacturing process was carried out in small workshops and private homes.
45
Under pressure from
United States Army Air Forces
(USAAF) headquarters in Washington, LeMay changed tactics and decided that low-level
incendiary raids
against Japanese cities were the only way to destroy their production capabilities, shifting from precision bombing to
area bombardment
with incendiaries.
46
Like most
strategic bombing during World War II
, the aim of the air offensive against Japan was to destroy the enemy's war industries, kill or disable civilian employees of these industries, and
undermine civilian morale
47
48
Over the next six months, the XXI Bomber Command under LeMay firebombed 64 Japanese cities.
49
The
firebombing of Tokyo
, codenamed
Operation Meetinghouse
, on 9–10 March, killed an estimated 100,000 people and destroyed 41 km
(16 sq mi) of the city and 267,000 buildings in a single night. It was the deadliest bombing raid of the war, at a cost of 20 B-29s shot down by flak and fighters.
50
By May, 75 percent of bombs dropped were incendiaries designed to burn down Japan's "paper cities". By mid-June, Japan's six largest cities had been devastated.
51
The end of the
fighting on Okinawa
that month provided airfields even closer to the Japanese mainland, allowing the bombing campaign to be further escalated. Aircraft flying from Allied
aircraft carriers
and the
Ryukyu Islands
also regularly struck targets in Japan during 1945 in preparation for Operation Downfall.
52
Firebombing switched to smaller cities, with populations ranging from 60,000 to 350,000. According to
Yuki Tanaka
, the U.S. fire-bombed over a hundred Japanese towns and cities.
53
The Japanese military was unable to stop the Allied attacks, and the country's
civil defense
preparations proved inadequate. Japanese fighters and anti-aircraft guns had difficulty engaging bombers flying at high altitude.
54
From April 1945, the Japanese interceptors also had to face American fighter escorts based on
Iwo Jima
and Okinawa.
55
That month, the
Imperial Japanese Army Air Service
and
Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service
stopped attempting to intercept the air raids to preserve fighter aircraft to counter the expected invasion.
56
By mid-1945 the Japanese only occasionally scrambled aircraft to intercept individual B-29s conducting reconnaissance sorties over the country, to conserve supplies of fuel.
57
In July 1945, the Japanese had 138 thousand cubic metres (1,156,000 US barrels) of
avgas
stockpiled for the invasion of Japan. About 72 thousand cubic metres (604,000 US barrels) had been consumed in the home islands area in April, May and June 1945.
58
While the Japanese
military
decided to resume attacks on Allied bombers from late June, by this time there were too few operational fighters available for this change of tactics to hinder the Allied air raids.
59
Preparations
Organization and training
The "Tinian Joint Chiefs": Captain William S. Parsons (left), Rear Admiral William R. Purnell (center), and Brigadier General Thomas F. Farrell (right)
The
509th Composite Group
was constituted on 9 December 1944, and activated on 17 December 1944, at
Wendover Army Air Field
, Utah, commanded by
Colonel
Paul Tibbets
60
Tibbets was assigned to organize and command a
combat group
to develop the means of delivering an atomic weapon against targets in Germany and Japan. Because the flying squadrons of the group consisted of both bomber and transport aircraft, the group was designated as a "composite" rather than a "bombardment" unit.
61
Due to its remoteness, Tibbets selected Wendover for his training base over
Great Bend, Kansas
and
Mountain Home, Idaho
62
Each bombardier completed at least 50 practice drops of inert or conventional explosive
pumpkin bombs
, targeting islands around Tinian and later the Japanese home islands, until as late as 14 August 1945.
63
64
Some of the missions over Japan were flown by single unescorted bombers with a single payload to accustom the Japanese to this pattern. They also simulated actual atomic bombing runs, including the directions of ingress and egress with respect to the wind. Tibbets himself was barred from flying most missions over Japan for fear that he might be captured and interrogated.
64
On 5 April 1945, the
code name
Operation Centerboard was assigned. The officer responsible for its allocation in the
War Department
's Operations Division was not cleared to know any details of it. The first bombing was later codenamed Operation Centerboard I, and the second, Operation Centerboard II.
65
The 509th Composite Group had an authorized strength of 225 officers and 1,542 enlisted men, almost all of whom eventually deployed to Tinian. In addition to its authorized strength, the 509th had attached to it on Tinian 51 civilian and military personnel from
Project Alberta
66
known as the 1st Technical Detachment.
67
The 509th Composite Group's
393rd Bombardment Squadron
was equipped with 15
Silverplate
B-29s. These aircraft were specially adapted to carry nuclear weapons, and were equipped with
fuel-injected
engines, Curtiss Electric
reversible-pitch
propellers
, pneumatic actuators for rapid opening and closing of bomb bay doors and other improvements.
68
The ground support echelon of the 509th Composite Group moved by rail on 26 April 1945, to its port of embarkation at
Seattle
, Washington. On 6 May the support elements sailed on the
SS
Cape Victory
for the Marianas, while group materiel was shipped on the
SS
Emile Berliner
. The
Cape Victory
made brief port calls at
Honolulu
and
Eniwetok
but the passengers were not permitted to leave the dock area. An advance party of the air echelon, consisting of 29 officers and 61 enlisted men, flew by C-54 to
North Field
on Tinian, between 15 and 22 May.
69
There were also two representatives from Washington, D.C.,
Brigadier General
Thomas Farrell
, the deputy commander of the Manhattan Project, and
Rear Admiral
William R. Purnell
of the Military Policy Committee,
70
who were on hand to decide higher policy matters on the spot. Along with Captain
William S. Parsons
, the commander of Project Alberta, they became known as the "Tinian Joint Chiefs".
71
Choice of targets
The mission runs of 6 and 9 August, with Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and
Kokura
(the original target for 9 August) displayed
In April 1945, Marshall asked Groves to nominate specific targets for bombing for final approval by himself and Stimson. Groves formed a Target Committee, chaired by himself, that included Farrell, Major John A. Derry,
Colonel
William P. Fisher, Joyce C. Stearns and
David M. Dennison
from the USAAF; and scientists
John von Neumann
Robert R. Wilson
and
William Penney
from the Manhattan Project. The Target Committee met in Washington on 27 April; at Los Alamos on 10 May, where it was able to talk to the scientists and technicians there; and finally in Washington on 28 May, where it was briefed by Tibbets and
Commander
Frederick Ashworth
from Project Alberta, and the Manhattan Project's scientific advisor,
Richard C. Tolman
72
The Target Committee nominated five targets:
Kokura
(now
Kitakyushu
), the site of one of Japan's largest munitions plants;
Hiroshima
, an embarkation port and industrial center that was the site of a major military headquarters;
Yokohama
, an urban center for aircraft manufacture, machine tools, docks, electrical equipment and oil refineries;
Niigata
, a port with industrial facilities including steel and aluminum plants and an oil refinery; and
Kyoto
, a major industrial center. The target selection was subject to the following criteria:
The target was larger than 4.8 km (3 mi) in diameter and was an important target in a large city.
The
blast wave
would create effective damage.
The target was unlikely to be attacked by August 1945.
73
These cities were largely untouched during the nightly bombing raids, and the Army Air Forces agreed to leave them off the target list so accurate assessment of the damage caused by the atomic bombs could be made. Hiroshima was described as "an important army depot and port of embarkation in the middle of an urban industrial area. It is a good radar target and it is such a size that a large part of the city could be extensively damaged. There are adjacent hills which are likely to produce a focusing effect which would considerably increase the blast damage. Due to rivers it is not a good
incendiary
target."
73
The Target Committee stated that "It was agreed that psychological factors in the target selection were of great importance. Two aspects of this are (1) obtaining the greatest psychological effect against Japan and (2) making the initial use sufficiently spectacular for the importance of the weapon to be internationally recognized when publicity on it is released.
... Kyoto has the advantage of the people being more highly intelligent and hence better able to appreciate the significance of the weapon. Hiroshima has the advantage of being such a size and with possible focussing from nearby mountains that a large fraction of the city may be destroyed. The
Emperor's palace
in Tokyo has a greater fame than any other target but is of least strategic value."
73
Edwin O. Reischauer
, a Japan expert for the
U.S. Army Intelligence Service
, was incorrectly said to have prevented the bombing of Kyoto.
73
In his autobiography, Reischauer specifically refuted this claim:
... the only person deserving credit for saving Kyoto from destruction is Henry L. Stimson, the Secretary of War at the time, who had known and admired Kyoto ever since his honeymoon there several decades earlier.
74
75
Extant sources show that while Stimson was personally familiar with Kyoto, this was the result of a visit decades after his marriage when he was governor-general of the Philippines,
76
not because he honeymooned there.
77
78
On 30 May, Stimson asked Groves to remove Kyoto from the target list due to its historical, religious and cultural significance, but Groves pointed to its military and industrial significance.
79
Stimson then approached
President
Harry S. Truman
about the matter. Truman agreed with Stimson, and Kyoto was temporarily removed from the target list.
80
Groves attempted to restore Kyoto to the target list in July, but Stimson remained adamant.
81
82
On 25 July,
Nagasaki
was put on the target list in place of Kyoto. It was a major military port, one of Japan's largest shipbuilding and repair centers, and an important producer of naval ordnance.
82
Proposed demonstration
In early May 1945, the
Interim Committee
was created by Stimson at the urging of leaders of the Manhattan Project and with the approval of Truman to advise on matters pertaining to
nuclear technology
83
They agreed that the atomic bomb was to be used (1) against Japan at the earliest opportunity, (2) without special warning, and (3) on a "dual target" of military installation surrounded by other buildings susceptible to damage.
64
During the meetings on 31 May and 1 June, scientist
Ernest Lawrence
had suggested giving the Japanese a non-combat demonstration.
84
Arthur Compton
later recalled that:
It was evident that everyone would suspect trickery. If a bomb were exploded in Japan with previous notice, the Japanese air power was still adequate to give serious interference. An atomic bomb was an intricate device, still in the developmental stage. Its operation would be far from routine. If during the final adjustments of the bomb the Japanese defenders should attack, a faulty move might easily result in some kind of failure. Such an end to an advertised demonstration of power would be much worse than if the attempt had not been made. It was now evident that when the time came for the bombs to be used we should have only one of them available, followed afterwards by others at all-too-long intervals. We could not afford the chance that one of them might be a dud. If the test were made on some neutral territory, it was hard to believe that Japan's determined and fanatical military men would be impressed. If such an open test were made first and failed to bring surrender, the chance would be gone to give the shock of surprise that proved so effective. On the contrary, it would make the Japanese ready to interfere with an atomic attack if they could. Though the possibility of a demonstration that would not destroy human lives was attractive, no one could suggest a way in which it could be made so convincing that it would be likely to stop the war.
85
The possibility of a demonstration was raised again in the
Franck Report
issued by physicist
James Franck
on 11 June and the Scientific Advisory Panel rejected his report on 16 June, saying that "we can propose no technical demonstration likely to bring an end to the war; we see no acceptable alternative to direct military use." Franck then took the report to Washington, D.C., where the Interim Committee met on 21 June to re-examine its earlier conclusions; but it reaffirmed that there was no alternative to the use of the bomb on a military target.
86
Like Compton, many U.S. officials and scientists argued that a demonstration would sacrifice the shock value of the atomic attack, and the Japanese could deny the atomic bomb was lethal, making the mission less likely to produce surrender. Allied
prisoners of war
might be moved to the demonstration site and be killed by the bomb. They also worried that the bomb might be a failure, as the Trinity test was that of a stationary device, not an air-dropped bomb. In addition, although more bombs were in production, only two would be available at the start of August, and they cost billions of dollars, so using one for a demonstration would be expensive.
87
88
Leaflets
Various leaflets were dropped on Japan listing cities targeted for destruction by firebombing. The other side stated that other cities may be attacked.
89
For several months, the U.S. had warned civilians of potential air raids by dropping more than 63 million leaflets across Japan. Many Japanese cities suffered terrible damage from aerial bombings; some were as much as 97 percent destroyed. LeMay thought that leaflets would increase the psychological impact of bombing, and reduce the international stigma of area-bombing cities. Even with the warnings,
Japanese opposition to the war
remained ineffective. In general, the Japanese regarded the leaflet messages as truthful, with many Japanese choosing to leave major cities. The leaflets caused such concern that the government ordered the arrest of anyone caught in possession of a leaflet.
89
90
Leaflet texts were prepared by recent Japanese prisoners of war because they were thought to be the best choice "to appeal to their compatriots".
91
In preparation for dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the Oppenheimer-led
Scientific Panel of the Interim Committee
decided against a demonstration bomb and against a special leaflet warning. Those decisions were implemented because of the uncertainty of a successful detonation and also because of the wish to maximize
shock in the leadership
92
No warning was given to Hiroshima that a new and much more destructive bomb was going to be dropped.
93
Various sources gave conflicting information about when the last leaflets were dropped on Hiroshima prior to the atomic bomb.
Robert Jay Lifton
wrote that it was 27 July,
93
and Theodore H. McNelly wrote that it was 30 July.
92
The USAAF history noted that eleven cities were targeted with leaflets on 27 July, but Hiroshima was not one of them, and there were no leaflet sorties on 30 July.
90
Leaflet sorties were undertaken on 1 and 4 August. Hiroshima may have been leafleted in late July or early August, as survivor accounts talk about a delivery of leaflets a few days before the atomic bomb was dropped.
93
Three versions were printed of a leaflet listing 11 or 12 cities targeted for firebombing; a total of 33 cities listed. With the text of this leaflet reading in Japanese "...
we cannot promise that only these cities will be among those attacked
..."
89
Hiroshima was not listed.
94
95
Consultation with Britain and Canada
General
Thomas Handy
's order to General
Carl Spaatz
ordering the dropping of the atomic bombs
In 1943, the United States and the United Kingdom signed the
Quebec Agreement
, which stipulated that nuclear weapons would not be used against another country without mutual consent. Stimson therefore had to obtain British permission. A meeting of the
Combined Policy Committee
, which included one Canadian representative, was held at
the Pentagon
on 4 July 1945.
96
Field Marshal
Sir
Henry Maitland Wilson
announced that the British government concurred with the use of nuclear weapons against Japan, which would be officially recorded as a decision of the Combined Policy Committee.
96
97
98
As the release of information to third parties was also controlled by the Quebec Agreement, discussion then turned to what scientific details would be revealed in the press announcement of the bombing. The meeting also considered what Truman could reveal to
Joseph Stalin
, the leader of the
Soviet Union
, at the upcoming
Potsdam Conference
, as this also required British concurrence.
96
Orders for the attack were issued to General
Carl Spaatz
on 25 July under the signature of General
Thomas T. Handy
, the acting chief of staff, since Marshall was at the Potsdam Conference with Truman.
99
It read in part:
The 509th Composite Group, 20th Air Force will deliver its first special bomb as soon as weather will permit visual bombing after about 3 August 1945 on one of the targets: Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata and Nagasaki. To carry military and civilian scientific personnel from the War Department to observe and record the effects of the explosion of the bomb, additional aircraft will accompany the airplane carrying the bomb. The observing planes will stay several miles distant from the point of impact of the bomb.
Additional bombs will be delivered on the above targets as soon as made ready by the project staff. Further instructions will be issued concerning targets other than those listed above.
100
That day, Truman noted in his diary that:
This weapon is to be used against Japan between now and August 10th. I have told the Sec. of War, Mr. Stimson, to use it so that military objectives and soldiers and sailors are the target and not women and children. Even if the Japs are savages, ruthless, merciless and fanatic, we as the leader of the world for the common welfare cannot drop that terrible bomb on the old capital [Kyoto] or the new [Tokyo]. He and I are in accord. The target will be a purely military one.
101
Potsdam Declaration
Main article:
Potsdam Declaration
The 16 July success of the
Trinity Test
in the
New Mexico
desert exceeded expectations.
102
On 26 July, Allied leaders issued the
Potsdam Declaration
, which outlined the terms of surrender for Japan. The declaration was presented as an
ultimatum
and stated that without a surrender, the Allies would attack Japan, resulting in "the inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forces and just as inevitably the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland". The atomic bomb was not mentioned in the communiqué.
103
On 28 July, Japanese papers reported that the declaration had been rejected by the Japanese government. That afternoon,
Prime Minister
Kantarō Suzuki
declared at a press conference that the Potsdam Declaration was no more than a rehash (
yakinaoshi
) of the
Cairo Declaration
, that the government intended to ignore it (
mokusatsu
, "kill by silence"), and that Japan would fight to the end.
104
The statement was taken by both Japanese and foreign papers as a clear rejection of the declaration. Emperor Hirohito, who was waiting for a Soviet reply to non-committal Japanese peace feelers, made no move to change the government position.
105
Japan's willingness to surrender remained conditional on the preservation of the
kokutai
(Imperial institution and national
polity
), assumption by the Imperial Headquarters of responsibility for disarmament and demobilization, no occupation of the
Japanese Home Islands
, Korea or
Formosa
, and delegation of the punishment of war criminals to the Japanese government.
106
At Potsdam, Truman agreed to a request from
Winston Churchill
that Britain be represented when the atomic bomb was dropped.
William Penney
and
Group Captain
Leonard Cheshire
were sent to Tinian, but LeMay would not let them accompany the Hiroshima mission.
107
They would subsequently take part in the Nagasaki mission as observers.
Bombs
The Little Boy bomb, except for the uranium payload, was ready at the beginning of May 1945.
108
There were two uranium-235 components, a hollow cylindrical projectile and a cylindrical target insert. The projectile was completed on 15 June, and the target insert on 24 July.
109
The projectile and eight bomb pre-assemblies (partly assembled bombs without the powder charge and fissile components) left
Hunters Point Naval Shipyard
, California, on 16 July aboard the
cruiser
USS
Indianapolis
, and arrived on Tinian on 26 July.
110
The target insert followed by air on 30 July, accompanied by Commander
Francis Birch
from Project Alberta.
109
The bomb was later described by physicist Harold Agnew, who flew in an accompanying aircraft, as "completely unsafe"; it would normally be armed, an exceptionally delicate task, on the ground before takeoff;
111
responding to concerns expressed by the 509th Composite Group about the possibility of a B-29 crashing on takeoff with an armed bomb on board, Birch modified the Little Boy design to incorporate a removable breech plug that would permit the bomb to be armed in flight.
108
The first
plutonium core
, along with its
polonium
beryllium
urchin initiator
, was transported in the custody of Project Alberta courier
Raemer Schreiber
in a magnesium field carrying case designed for the purpose by
Philip Morrison
. Magnesium was chosen because it does not act as a
neutron reflector
112
The core departed from
Kirtland Army Air Field
on a
C-54
transport aircraft of the 509th Composite Group's
320th Troop Carrier Squadron
on 26 July, and arrived at North Field 28 July. Three Fat Man high-explosive pre-assemblies, designated F31, F32, and F33, were picked up at Kirtland on 28 July by three B-29s, two from the 393rd Bombardment Squadron plus one from the 216th Army Air Force Base Unit, and transported to North Field, arriving on 2 August.
113
Hiroshima
Hiroshima during World War II
The
Enola Gay
dropped the "
Little Boy
" atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
Paul Tibbets
(center in photograph) can be seen with seven members of the
ground crew
At the time of its bombing, Hiroshima was a city of industrial and military significance. A number of military units were located nearby, the most important of which was the headquarters of
Field Marshal
Shunroku Hata
's
Second General Army
, which commanded the defense of all of southern Japan,
114
and was located in
Hiroshima Castle
. Hata's command consisted of some 400,000 men, most of whom were on Kyushu where an Allied invasion was correctly anticipated.
115
Also present in Hiroshima were the headquarters of the
59th Army
, the
5th Division
and the
224th Division
, a recently formed mobile unit.
116
The city was defended by five batteries of 70 mm and 80 mm (2.8 and 3.1 inch)
anti-aircraft guns
of the 3rd Anti-Aircraft Division, including units from the 121st and 122nd Anti-Aircraft Regiments and the 22nd and 45th Separate Anti-Aircraft Battalions. In total, an estimated 40,000 Japanese military personnel were stationed in the city.
117
Hiroshima was a supply and logistics base for the Japanese military.
118
The city was a communications center, a key port for shipping, and an assembly area for troops.
79
It supported a large war industry, manufacturing parts for planes and boats, for bombs, rifles, and handguns.
119
The center of the city contained several
reinforced concrete
buildings. Outside the center, the area was congested by a dense collection of small timber workshops set among Japanese houses. A few larger industrial plants lay near the outskirts of the city. The houses were constructed of timber with tile roofs, and many of the industrial buildings were also built around timber frames. The city as a whole was highly susceptible to fire damage.
120
It was the second largest city in Japan after Kyoto that was still undamaged by air raids,
121
primarily because it lacked the aircraft manufacturing industry that was the XXI Bomber Command's priority target. On 3 July, the Joint Chiefs of Staff placed it off limits to bombers, along with Kokura, Niigata and Kyoto.
122
The population of Hiroshima had reached a peak of over 381,000 earlier in the war but prior to the atomic bombing, the population had steadily decreased because of a
systematic evacuation ordered by the Japanese government
. At the time of the attack, the population was approximately 340,000–350,000.
123
Residents wondered why Hiroshima had been spared destruction by firebombing.
124
Some speculated that the city was to be saved for U.S. occupation headquarters; others thought perhaps their relatives in Hawaii and California had petitioned the U.S. government to avoid bombing Hiroshima.
125
More realistic city officials had ordered buildings torn down to create long, straight
firebreaks
126
These continued to be expanded and extended up to the morning of 6 August 1945.
127
Bombing of Hiroshima
"August 6, 1945" redirects here. For the date, see
August 1945 § August 6, 1945 (Monday)
Strike order
for the Hiroshima bombing as posted on 5 August 1945
Hiroshima was the primary target of the first atomic bombing mission on 6 August, with Kokura and Nagasaki as alternative targets. The 393rd Bombardment Squadron B-29
Enola Gay
, named after Tibbets's mother and piloted by Tibbets, took off from North Field,
Tinian
, about six hours' flight time from Japan,
128
at 02:45 local time.
129
Enola Gay
was accompanied by two other B-29s:
The Great Artiste
, commanded by Major
Charles Sweeney
, which carried instrumentation, and a then-nameless aircraft later called
Necessary Evil
, commanded by Captain George Marquardt.
Necessary Evil
was the
photography aircraft
130
Special Mission 13, primary target Hiroshima, 6 August 1945
130
131
Aircraft
Pilot
Call sign
Mission role
Straight Flush
Major
Claude R. Eatherly
Dimples 85
Weather reconnaissance (Hiroshima)
Jabit III
Major John A. Wilson
Dimples 71
Weather reconnaissance (Kokura)
Full House
Major Ralph R. Taylor
Dimples 83
Weather reconnaissance (Nagasaki)
Enola Gay
Colonel
Paul W. Tibbets
Dimples 82
Weapon delivery
The Great Artiste
Major
Charles W. Sweeney
Dimples 89
Blast measurement instrumentation
Necessary Evil
Captain George W. Marquardt
Dimples 91
Strike observation and photography
Top Secret
Captain Charles F. McKnight
Dimples 72
Strike spare – did not complete mission
After leaving Tinian, the aircraft made their way separately to Iwo Jima to rendezvous with Sweeney and Marquardt at 05:55 at 2,800 meters (9,200 ft),
132
and set course for Japan. The aircraft arrived over Hiroshima in clear visibility at 9,470 meters (31,060 ft).
133
Parsons, who was in command of the mission, armed the bomb in flight to minimize the risks during takeoff. He had witnessed four B-29s crash and burn at takeoff, and feared that a nuclear explosion would occur if a B-29 crashed with an armed Little Boy on board.
134
His assistant, Second Lieutenant
Morris R. Jeppson
, removed the safety devices 30 minutes before reaching the target area.
135
The Hiroshima atom bomb cloud 2–5 minutes after detonation
136
During the night of 5–6 August, Japanese early warning radar detected the approach of numerous American aircraft headed for the southern part of Japan. Radar detected 65 bombers headed for
Saga
, 102 bound for
Maebashi
, 261 en route to
Nishinomiya
, 111 headed for
Ube
and 66 bound for
Imabari
. An alert was given and radio broadcasting stopped in many cities, among them Hiroshima. The all-clear was sounded in Hiroshima at 00:05.
137
About an hour before the bombing, the air raid alert was sounded again, as
Straight Flush
flew over the city. It broadcast a short message, which was picked up by
Enola Gay
. It read: "Cloud cover less than 3/10th at all altitudes. Advice: bomb primary."
138
The all-clear was sounded over Hiroshima again at 07:09.
139
At 08:09, Tibbets started his bomb run and handed control over to his bombardier, Major
Thomas Ferebee
140
The release at 08:15 (Hiroshima time) went as planned, and the Little Boy containing about 64 kg (141 lb) of uranium-235 took 44.4 seconds to fall from the aircraft flying at about 9,400 meters (31,000 ft) to a detonation height of about 580 meters (1,900 ft) above the city.
141
142
Enola Gay
was 18.5 km (11.5 mi) away before it felt the shock waves from the blast.
143
Due to
crosswind
, the bomb missed the
aiming point
, the
Aioi Bridge
, by approximately 240 m (800 ft) and detonated directly over
Shima Surgical Clinic
144
It released energy equivalent to 16 ± 2
kilotons of TNT
(66.9 ± 8.4 TJ)
141
—four times the tonnage of conventional bombs that had
wiped out the city of Dresden
in Germany.
111
The weapon was
very inefficient
, with only 1.7 percent of its material fissioning.
145
The radius of total destruction was about 1.6 kilometers (1 mi), with resulting fires across 11 km
(4.4 sq mi).
146
Enola Gay
stayed over the target area for two minutes and was 16 kilometers (10 mi) away when the bomb detonated. Only Tibbets, Parsons, and Ferebee knew of the nature of the weapon; the others on the bomber were only told to expect a blinding flash and given protective goggles. "It was hard to believe what we saw", Tibbets told reporters, while Parsons said "the whole thing was tremendous and awe-inspiring
... the men aboard with me gasped 'My God'." He and Tibbets compared the shockwave to "a close burst of
ack-ack
fire".
147
Necessary Evil
s cameras all failed; the only film of the attack was made by a 16
mm cine camera smuggled onto the aircraft by a crew member.
111
Enola Gay
s crew received a heroes' welcome on landing at Tinian, with hundreds of cheering welcomers and "more generals than I'd ever seen in my life. We wondered what the hell they were doing there" according to navigator Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk. When Tibbets stepped from his B-29 the Distinguished Service Cross was unexpectedly pinned to his chest while he was still holding his pipe.
111
Events on the ground
People on the ground reported a
pika
ピカ
—a brilliant flash of light—followed by a
don
ドン
—a loud booming sound.
148
The experiences of survivors in the city varied depending on their location and circumstances, but a common factor in survivor accounts was a sense that a conventional weapon (sometimes cited as a
magnesium bomb
, which has a distinctively bright white flash) had happened to go off immediately in their vicinity, causing tremendous damage (throwing people across rooms, breaking glass, crushing buildings). After emerging from the ruins, the survivors gradually understood that the entire city had been attacked at the same instant. Survivor accounts frequently feature walking through the ruins of the city without a clear sense of where to go, and encountering the cries of people trapped within crushed structures, or people with horrific burns. As the numerous small fires created by the blast began to grow, they merged into a
firestorm
that moved quickly throughout the ruins, killing many who had been trapped, and causing people to jump into Hiroshima's rivers in search of sanctuary (many of whom drowned).
149
150
The photographer
Yoshito Matsushige
took the only photographs of Hiroshima immediately after the bombing. He described in a later interview that, immediately after the bombing, "everywhere there was dust; it made a grayish darkness over everything." He took five photographs in total before he could not continue: "It was really a terrible scene. It was just like something out of hell."
151
Survivor accounts also prominently feature cases of survivors who appeared uninjured, but who would succumb within hours or days to what would later be identified as
radiation sickness
Estimating the number of people killed by the blast, firestorm, and radiation effects of the bombing has been hampered by imprecise record-keeping during the war, the chaos caused by the attack, uncertainty about the number of people in the city on the morning of the attack, and variations in methodology. Reports by the Manhattan Project in 1946 and the U.S. occupation–led Joint Commission for the Investigation of the Atomic Bomb in Japan in 1951 estimated 66,000 dead and 69,000 injured, and 64,500 dead and 72,000 injured, respectively, while Japanese-led reconsiderations of the death toll in the 1970s estimated 140,000 dead in Hiroshima by the end of the year.
152
Estimates also vary on the number of Japanese military personnel killed. The
United States Strategic Bombing Survey
estimated in 1946 that there were 24,158 soldiers present in Hiroshima at the time of the attack, and that 6,789 were killed or missing as a result; the 1970s reconsiderations estimated about 10,000 military dead.
152
A modern estimate by the
Radiation Effects Research Foundation
(RERF) estimates a city population of 340,000 to 350,000 at the time of the bombing, of which 90,000 to 166,000 died by the end of the year.
123
U.S. surveys estimated that 12 km
(4.7 sq mi) of the city were destroyed. Japanese officials determined that 69 percent of Hiroshima's buildings were destroyed and another 6 to 7 percent damaged.
153
Some of the reinforced concrete buildings in Hiroshima had been very strongly constructed because of the earthquake danger in Japan, and their framework did not collapse even though they were fairly close to the blast center. Since the bomb detonated in the air, the blast was directed more downward than sideways, which was largely responsible for the survival of the
Prefectural Industrial Promotional Hall
, now commonly known as the
Genbaku
(A-bomb) dome, which was only 150 m (490 ft) from
ground zero
(the
hypocenter
). The ruin was named
Hiroshima Peace Memorial
and was made a UNESCO
World Heritage Site
in 1996 over the objections of the United States and China, which expressed reservations on the grounds that other Asian nations were the ones who suffered the greatest loss of life and property, and a focus on Japan lacked historical perspective.
154
Hiroshima bombing
Hiroshima in the aftermath of the bombing
Ruins of Hiroshima
The
Hiroshima Genbaku Dome
after the bombing
The pattern of the
kimono
worn by a survivor burned into her skin in tight-fitting areas.
Direct,
thermal flash burns
22-year old victim Toyoko Kugata being treated at the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital (6 October 1945)
A photograph of the aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima
Memorial at
Andersonville NHS
for the American airmen who died in the blast
A victim with burns
A victim with whole body burns
A victim with whole body burns
Victim with burns on her back
Corpse near the Western Parade Ground
A mobilized school girl suffered burns to face
Elder sister and younger brother who suffered radiation disease. The brother died in 1949 and the sister in 1965.
For decades this photo was misidentified as the
mushroom cloud
of the bomb that formed at c. 08:16.
155
156
However, due to its much greater height, the scene was identified in March 2016 as the
firestorm-cloud
that engulfed the city,
156
some three hours after the bombing.
157
The air raid warning had been cleared at 07:31, and many people were outside, going about their activities.
158
Eizō Nomura was the closest known survivor, being in the basement of a reinforced concrete building (it remained as the
Rest House
after the war) only 170 meters (560 ft) from ground zero at the time of the attack.
159
160
He died in 1982, aged 84.
161
Akiko Takakura was among the closest survivors to the hypocenter of the blast. She was in the solidly-built Bank of Hiroshima only 300 meters (980 ft) from ground-zero at the time of the attack.
162
Over 90 percent of the doctors and 93 percent of the nurses in Hiroshima were killed or injured—most had been in the downtown area which received the greatest damage.
163
The hospitals were destroyed or heavily damaged. Only one doctor,
Terufumi Sasaki
, remained on duty at the Red Cross Hospital.
164
Nonetheless, by early afternoon the police and volunteers had established evacuation center at hospitals, schools and tram stations, and a morgue was established in the Asano library.
165
Survivors of the blast gathered for medical treatment, but many would die before receiving any help, leaving behind rings of corpses around hospitals.
166
Most elements of the Japanese
Second General Army
headquarters were undergoing physical training on the grounds of
Hiroshima Castle
, barely 820 meters (900 yd) from the hypocenter. The attack killed 3,243 troops on the parade ground.
167
The communications room of
Chugoku
Military District Headquarters that was responsible for issuing and lifting air raid warnings was located in a semi-basement in the castle. Yoshie Oka, a Hijiyama Girls High School student who had been mobilized to serve as a communications officer, had just sent a message that the alarm had been issued for Hiroshima and neighboring
Yamaguchi
when the bomb exploded. She used a special phone to inform
Fukuyama
Headquarters (some 100 kilometers (62 mi) away) that "Hiroshima has been attacked by a new type of bomb. The city is in a state of near-total destruction."
168
Since Mayor
Senkichi Awaya
had been killed at the mayoral residence, Field Marshal
Shunroku Hata
, who was only slightly wounded, took over the administration of the city and coordinated relief efforts. Many of his staff had been killed or fatally wounded, including Lieutenant Colonel
Yi U
, a prince of the
Korean imperial family
who was serving as a General Staff Officer.
169
170
Hata's senior surviving staff officer was the wounded Colonel
Kumao Imoto
, who acted as his chief of staff. Soldiers from the undamaged Hiroshima Ujina Harbor used
Shin'yō
-class suicide motorboats
, intended to repel the American invasion, to collect the wounded and take them down the rivers to the military hospital at Ujina.
169
Trucks and trains brought in relief supplies and evacuated survivors from the city.
171
Twelve American airmen were imprisoned at the Chugoku Military Police Headquarters, about 400 meters (1,300 ft) from the hypocenter of the blast.
172
Most died instantly, although two were reported to have been executed by their captors, and two prisoners badly injured by the bombing were left next to the Aioi Bridge by the
Kempeitai
, where they were stoned to death.
173
174
Eight U.S. prisoners of war killed as part of the medical experiments program at
Kyushu University
were falsely reported by Japanese authorities as having been killed in the atomic blast as part of an attempted cover up.
175
The fires created by the atomic bomb detonation carried large amounts of ash into the clouds in the atmosphere. One to two hours after the explosion, a "black rain" fell as a tarry combination of ash, radioactive fallout, and water, causing severe radiation burns in some cases.
176
177
Japanese realization of the bombing
Hiroshima before the bombing
Hiroshima after the bombing and subsequent
firestorm
The Tokyo control operator of the
Japan Broadcasting Corporation
noticed that the Hiroshima station had gone off the air. He tried to re-establish his program by using another telephone line, but it too had failed.
178
About 20 minutes later the Tokyo railroad telegraph center realized that the main line telegraph had stopped working just north of Hiroshima. From some small railway stops within 16 km (10 mi) of the city came unofficial and confused reports of a terrible explosion in Hiroshima. All these reports were transmitted to the headquarters of the
Imperial Japanese Army General Staff
179
Military bases repeatedly tried to call the Army Control Station in Hiroshima. The complete silence from that city puzzled the General Staff; they knew that no large enemy raid had occurred and that no sizable store of explosives was in Hiroshima at that time. A young officer was instructed to fly immediately to Hiroshima, to land, survey the damage, and return to Tokyo with reliable information for the staff. It was felt that nothing serious had taken place and that the explosion was just a rumor.
179
The staff officer went to the airport and took off for the southwest. After flying for about three hours, while still nearly 160 km (100 mi) from Hiroshima, he and his pilot saw a great cloud of smoke from the firestorm created by the bomb. After circling the city to survey the damage they landed south of the city, where the staff officer, after reporting to Tokyo, began to organize relief measures. Tokyo learned that the city had been destroyed by a new type of bomb from President Truman's announcement of the strike, sixteen hours later.
179
The official White House announcement was delayed by congestion on circuits from Tinian, which meant that Groves could not initially confirm the extent of the damage to Hiroshima.
180
The first report from Hiroshima was sent on a hotline by a fourteen-year old female student volunteer communications officer Yoshie Okawa in a bunker at the Chugoku Military District Headquarters, half a mile (800m) from the epicentre. She was not believed at Fukuyama, so she found a soldier above ground who told her that "Hiroshima has been attacked by a new type of bomb. The city is in a state of near-total destruction."
181
Events of 7–9 August
See also:
Mokusatsu
President Truman on the
USS
Augusta
reading his statement about the bombing of Hiroshima, which described as the product of "the greatest achievement of organized science in history"
Sixteen hours after the Hiroshima bombing, a statement was issued by the White House staff in Truman's name announcing the use of the new weapon.
182
It said that the United States and its allies had "spent two billion dollars on the greatest scientific gamble in history—and won," and warned Japan: "If they do not now accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth. Behind this air attack will follow sea and land forces in such numbers and power as they have not yet seen and with the fighting skill of which they are already well aware."
183
This was a widely broadcast speech picked up by Japanese news agencies.
184
The 50,000-watt
standard wave
station on
Saipan
, the
OWI
radio station
, broadcast a similar message to Japan every 15 minutes about Hiroshima, stating that more Japanese cities would face a similar fate in the absence of immediate acceptance of the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and emphatically urged civilians to evacuate major cities.
Radio Japan
, which continued to extoll victory for Japan by never surrendering
89
had informed the Japanese of the destruction of Hiroshima by a single bomb.
185
Soviet Foreign Minister
Vyacheslav Molotov
had informed Tokyo of the Soviet Union's unilateral abrogation of the
Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact
on 5 April.
186
At two minutes past midnight on 9 August,
Tokyo time
, Soviet infantry, armor, and air forces had launched the
Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation
187
Four hours later, word reached Tokyo of the Soviet Union's official declaration of war. The senior leadership of the Japanese Army began preparations to impose
martial law
on the nation, with the support of Minister of War
Korechika Anami
, to stop anyone attempting to make peace.
188
On 7 August, a day after Hiroshima was destroyed,
Yoshio Nishina
and other atomic physicists arrived at the city, and carefully examined the damage. They then went back to Tokyo and told the cabinet that Hiroshima was indeed destroyed by a nuclear weapon. Admiral
Soemu Toyoda
, the Chief of the Naval General Staff, estimated that no more than one or two additional bombs could be readied, so they decided to endure the remaining attacks, acknowledging "there would be more destruction but the war would go on".
189
American
Magic codebreakers
intercepted the cabinet's messages.
190
Purnell, Parsons, Tibbets, Spaatz, and LeMay met on Guam that same day to discuss what should be done next.
191
Since there was no indication of Japan surrendering,
190
they decided to proceed with dropping another bomb. Parsons said that
Project Alberta
would have it ready by 11 August, but Tibbets pointed to weather reports indicating poor flying conditions on that day due to a storm, and asked if the bomb could be readied by 9 August. Parsons agreed to try to do so.
192
191
Nagasaki
Nagasaki during World War II
The
Bockscar
and its crew, who dropped a
Fat Man
atomic bomb on Nagasaki
The city of Nagasaki had been one of the largest seaports in southern Japan, and was of great wartime importance because of its wide-ranging industrial activity, including the production of
ordnance
, ships, military equipment, and other war materials. The four largest companies in the city were
Mitsubishi
Shipyards, Electrical Shipyards, Arms Plant, and Steel and Arms Works, which employed about 90 percent of the city's labor force, and accounted for 90 percent of the city's industry.
193
Although an important industrial city, Nagasaki had been spared from firebombing because its geography made it difficult to locate at night with
AN/APQ-13
radar.
122
Unlike the other target cities, Nagasaki had not been placed off limits to bombers by the Joint Chiefs of Staff's 3 July directive,
122
194
and was bombed on a small scale five times. During one of these raids on 1 August, a number of conventional high-explosive bombs were dropped on the city. A few hit the shipyards and dock areas in the southwest portion of the city, and several hit the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works.
193
By early August, the city was defended by the 134th Anti-Aircraft Regiment of the 4th Anti-Aircraft Division with four batteries of 7 cm (2.8 in) anti-aircraft guns and two
searchlight
batteries.
117
The harbor at Nagasaki in August 1945 before the city was hit with the atomic bomb
In contrast to Hiroshima, almost all of the buildings were of old-fashioned Japanese construction, consisting of timber or timber-framed buildings with timber walls (with or without plaster) and tile roofs. Many of the smaller industries and business establishments were also situated in buildings of timber or other materials not designed to withstand explosions. Nagasaki had been permitted to grow for many years without conforming to any definite city zoning plan; residences were erected adjacent to factory buildings and to each other almost as closely as possible throughout the entire industrial valley. On the day of the bombing, an estimated 263,000 people were in Nagasaki, including 240,000 Japanese residents, 10,000 Korean residents, 2,500 conscripted Korean workers, 9,000 Japanese soldiers, 600 conscripted Chinese workers, and 400 Allied prisoners of war in a camp to the north of Nagasaki.
195
Bombing of Nagasaki
"August 9, 1945" redirects here. For the date, see
August 1945 § August 9, 1945 (Thursday)
The
Bockscar
B-29 and a post-war Mk III nuclear weapon painted to resemble the Fat Man bomb, at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, Ohio
According to a crew member, Hiroshima had been "the perfect mission" where everything went right, whereas in the Nagasaki mission, almost everything would go wrong.
111
Responsibility for the timing of the second bombing was delegated to Tibbets. Scheduled for 11 August, the raid was moved earlier by two days to avoid a five-day period of bad weather forecast to begin on 10 August.
196
Three bomb pre-assemblies had been transported to Tinian, labeled F-31, F-32, and F-33 on their exteriors. On 8 August, a dress rehearsal was conducted off Tinian by Sweeney using
Bockscar
as the drop airplane. Assembly F-33 was expended testing the components and F-31 was designated for the 9 August mission.
197
Special Mission 16, secondary target Nagasaki, 9 August 1945
198
Aircraft
Pilot
Call sign
Mission role
Enola Gay
Captain George W. Marquardt
Dimples 82
Weather reconnaissance (Kokura)
Laggin' Dragon
Captain Charles F. McKnight
Dimples 95
Weather reconnaissance (Nagasaki)
Bockscar
Major
Charles W. Sweeney
Dimples 77
Weapon delivery
The Great Artiste
Captain
Frederick C. Bock
Dimples 89
Blast measurement instrumentation
Big Stink
Major
James I. Hopkins, Jr.
Dimples 90
Strike observation and photography
Full House
Major Ralph R. Taylor
Dimples 83
Strike spare – did not complete mission
At 03:47 Tinian time (GMT+10), 02:47 Japanese time,
129
on the morning of 9 August 1945,
Bockscar
, flown by Sweeney's crew, lifted off from
Tinian
island with the Fat Man, with Kokura as the primary target and Nagasaki the secondary target. The mission plan for the second attack was nearly identical to that of the Hiroshima mission, with two B-29s flying an hour ahead as weather scouts and two additional B-29s in Sweeney's flight for instrumentation and photographic support of the mission. Sweeney took off with his weapon partially armed, but with the electrical safety plugs still engaged;
199
arming was completed a few minutes after takeoff.
111
During pre-flight inspection of
Bockscar
, the flight engineer notified Sweeney that an inoperative fuel transfer pump made it impossible to use 2,400 liters (640 U.S. gal) of fuel carried in a reserve tank. This fuel would still have to be carried all the way to Japan and back, consuming still more fuel. Replacing the pump would take hours; moving the Fat Man to another aircraft might take just as long and was dangerous as well, as the bomb was live. Tibbets and Sweeney therefore elected to have
Bockscar
continue the mission as the reserve fuel was not expected to be needed.
200
201
Nagasaki before and after the bombing, after the fires had burned out
This time Penney and Cheshire were allowed to accompany the mission, flying as observers on the third plane,
Big Stink
, flown by the group's operations officer, Major
James I. Hopkins, Jr.
Observers aboard the weather planes reported both targets clear. The aircraft ran into thunderstorms, with the fully armed bomb on board. Unexpectedly a white light on the bomb control panel came on that normally illuminates when the bomb is about to be dropped, making the crew think it might detonate, but it was traced to a misplaced switch.
111
When Sweeney's aircraft arrived at the assembly point for his flight off the coast of Japan,
Big Stink
failed to make the rendezvous.
199
According to Cheshire, Hopkins was at varying heights including 2,700 meters (9,000 ft) higher than he should have been, and was not flying tight circles over
Yakushima
as previously agreed with Sweeney and Captain
Frederick C. Bock
, who was piloting the support B-29
The Great Artiste
. Instead, Hopkins was flying 64-kilometer (40 mi) dogleg patterns.
202
Though ordered not to circle longer than fifteen minutes, Sweeney continued to wait for
Big Stink
for forty minutes. Before leaving the rendezvous point, Sweeney consulted Ashworth, who was in charge of the bomb. As commander of the aircraft, Sweeney made the decision to proceed to the primary, the city of Kokura.
203
After exceeding the original departure time limit by nearly a half-hour,
Bockscar
, accompanied by
The Great Artiste
, proceeded to Kokura, thirty minutes away. The delay at the rendezvous had resulted in clouds and drifting smoke over Kokura from fires started by a major firebombing raid by 224 B-29s on nearby
Yahata
the previous day.
204
Additionally, the
Yahata Steel Works
intentionally burned
coal tar
to produce black smoke.
205
The clouds and smoke resulted in 70 percent of the area over Kokura being covered, obscuring the aiming point. Three bomb runs were made over the next 50 minutes, burning fuel and exposing the aircraft repeatedly to the heavy defenses around Kokura, but the bombardier was unable to drop visually. By the time of the third bomb run, Japanese anti-aircraft fire was getting close, and Second Lieutenant
Jacob Beser
, who was monitoring Japanese communications, reported activity on the Japanese fighter direction radio bands.
206
With fuel running low because of delays and the bad weather, with reserve fuel unavailable due to the failed pump,
Bockscar
and
The Great Artiste
headed for their secondary target, Nagasaki.
199
Fuel consumption calculations made en route indicated that
Bockscar
had insufficient fuel to reach Iwo Jima and would be forced to divert to
Okinawa
, which had become entirely Allied-occupied territory
only six weeks earlier
. After initially deciding that if Nagasaki were obscured on their arrival the crew would carry the bomb to Okinawa and dispose of it in the ocean if necessary, Ashworth agreed with Sweeney's suggestion that a radar approach would be used if the target was obscured.
207
208
At about 07:50 Japanese time (GMT+9), an air raid alert was sounded in Nagasaki, but the "all clear" signal was given at 08:30. When only two B-29 Superfortresses were sighted at 10:53 no further alarm was given; the Japanese apparently assumed that the planes were only conducting reconnaissance.
209
A few minutes later, at 11:00 Japanese time,
The Great Artiste
dropped instruments attached to three parachutes. These instruments also contained an unsigned letter to Ryokichi Sagane, a physicist at the
University of Tokyo
who had studied with three of the scientists responsible for the atomic bomb at the
University of California, Berkeley
, urging him to tell the public about the danger involved with these
weapons of mass destruction
. The messages were found by military authorities but not turned over to Sagane until a month later.
210
In 1949, one of the authors of the letter,
Luis Alvarez
, met with Sagane and signed the letter.
211
At 11:01, a last-minute break in the clouds over Nagasaki allowed
Bockscar
s bombardier, Captain
Kermit Beahan
, to visually sight the target as ordered. The Fat Man weapon, containing a core of about 5 kg (11 lb) of
plutonium
, was dropped over the city's industrial valley. It exploded 47 seconds later at 11:02
129
at 503 ± 10 m (1,650 ± 33 ft), above a tennis court,
212
halfway between the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works in the south and the Nagasaki Arsenal in the north, nearly 3 km (1.9 mi) northwest of the planned hypocenter. By a bizarre coincidence, Fat Man detonated almost directly over the factory that had made the torpedoes used in the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor
111
The blast was confined to the
Urakami Valley
, and a major portion of the city was protected by the intervening hills.
213
The resulting explosion released the equivalent energy of 21 ± 2 kt (87.9 ± 8.4 TJ).
141
Big Stink
spotted the explosion from 160 kilometers (100 mi) away, and flew over to observe.
214
The bomb destroyed the Roman Catholic
Urakami Tenshudo Church
Bockscar
flew on to Okinawa, arriving unannounced with only sufficient fuel for a single approach. Sweeney tried repeatedly to contact the control tower for landing clearance, but received no answer. He could see heavy air traffic landing and taking off from
Yontan Airfield
. Firing off every flare on board to alert the field to his emergency landing, the
Bockscar
came in fast, landing at 230 km/h (140 mph) instead of the normal 190 kilometers per hour (120 mph). The number two engine died from fuel starvation as he began the final approach. Touching down on only three engines midway down the landing strip,
Bockscar
bounced up into the air again for about 7.6 meters (25 ft) before slamming back down hard. The heavy B-29 slewed left and towards a row of parked B-24 bombers before the pilots managed to regain control. Its reversible propellers were insufficient to slow the aircraft adequately, and with both pilots standing on the brakes,
Bockscar
made a swerving 90-degree turn at the end of the runway to avoid running off it. A second engine died from fuel exhaustion before the plane came to a stop.
215
Unlike the heroes' welcome for
Enola Gay
there was nobody to greet them; nobody knew they were coming.
111
Following the mission, there was confusion over the identification of the plane. The first eyewitness account by war correspondent
William L. Laurence
of
The New York Times
, who accompanied the mission aboard the aircraft piloted by Bock, reported that Sweeney was leading the mission in
The Great Artiste
. He also noted its "Victor" number as 77, which was that of
Bockscar
216
Laurence had interviewed Sweeney and his crew, and was aware that they referred to their airplane as
The Great Artiste
. Except for
Enola Gay
, none of the 393rd's B-29s had yet had names painted on the noses, a fact which Laurence himself noted in his account. Unaware of the switch in aircraft, Laurence assumed Victor 77 was
The Great Artiste
217
which was in fact, Victor 89.
218
Events on the ground
Although the bomb was more powerful than the one used on Hiroshima, its effects were confined by hillsides to the narrow
Urakami Valley
219
Of 7,500 Japanese employees who worked inside the Mitsubishi Munitions plant, including "mobilized" students and regular workers, 6,200 were killed. Some 17,000–22,000 others who worked in other war plants and factories in the city died as well.
220
The 1946 Manhattan Project report estimated 39,000 dead and 25,000 injured, and the 1951 U.S.-led Joint Commission report estimated 39,214 dead and 25,153 injured; Japanese-led reconsiderations in the 1970s estimated 70,000 dead in Nagasaki by the end of the year.
152
A modern estimate by the
Radiation Effects Research Foundation
(RERF) estimates a city population of 250,000 to 270,000 at the time of the bombing, of which 60,000 to 80,000 died by the end of the year.
123
Yōsuke Yamahata
photographed this child incinerated in Nagasaki. American forces censored such images in Japan until 1952.
221
222
Unlike Hiroshima's military death toll, only 150 Japanese soldiers were killed instantly, including 36 from the 134th AAA Regiment of the 4th AAA Division.
117
At least eight Allied
prisoners of war
(POWs)—British
Royal Air Force
Corporal
Ronald Shaw
223
and seven Dutch POWs—were killed, and as many as thirteen may have died.
224
American POW
Joe Kieyoomia
survived, reportedly having been shielded from the effects of the bomb by the concrete walls of his cell.
225
The 24 Australian POWs in Nagasaki survived.
226
The radius of total destruction was about 1.6 km (1 mi), followed by fires across the northern portion of the city to 3.2 km (2 mi) south of the bomb.
146
227
The Nagasaki Arsenal was destroyed in the blast. About 58 percent of the Mitsubishi Arms Plant and about 78 percent of the Mitsubishi Steel Works were damaged. The Mitsubishi Electric Works, on the border of the main destruction zone, suffered only 10 percent structural damage.
228
Many fires burnt after the bombing, but no
firestorm
developed, unlike at Hiroshima, as the damaged areas had insufficient fuel density. Instead, ambient wind pushed the fire to spread along the valley.
229
Had the bomb been dropped at the intended target, in the heart of Nagasaki's downtown historic district, the destruction to medical and administrative infrastructure would have been greater.
64
As in Hiroshima, the bombing badly damaged the city's medical facilities. A makeshift hospital was established at the Shinkozen Primary School, which served as the main medical center. The trains kept running and evacuated many victims to hospitals in nearby towns. A medical team from a naval hospital reached the city in the evening. Fire-fighting brigades from the neighboring towns assisted in fighting the fires.
230
Takashi Nagai
, a seriously injured doctor working in the radiology department of Nagasaki Medical College Hospital, and the rest of the surviving medical staff treated bombing victims.
231
The atomic bomb explosion generated a windstorm several kilometers wide that carried ash, dust, and debris over the mountain ranges surrounding Nagasaki. Approximately 20 minutes after the bombing, a black rain fell with the consistency of mud or oil. The rain carried radioactive material and continued for one to two hours.
232
Plans for more atomic attacks on Japan
Main article:
Third Shot
Memorandum from Leslie Groves to George C. Marshall regarding the third bomb, with Marshall's hand-written caveat that the third bomb not be used without express presidential instruction
There were plans for further attacks on Japan following Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Groves expected to have another (plutonium-239-based) "Fat Man" atomic bomb ready for use on 19 August, with three more in September and a further three in October.
88
A second Little Boy bomb (using uranium-235) would not be available until December 1945.
233
234
On 10 August, he sent a memorandum to Marshall in which he wrote that "the next bomb ... should be ready for delivery on the first suitable weather after 17 or 18 August." The memo today contains hand-written comment written by Marshall: "It is not to be released over Japan without express authority from the President."
88
At the cabinet meeting that morning, Truman discussed these actions.
James Forrestal
paraphrased Truman as saying "there will be no further dropping of the atomic bomb," while
Henry A. Wallace
recorded in his diary that: "Truman said he had given orders to stop atomic bombing. He said the thought of wiping out another 100,000 people was too horrific. He didn't like the idea of killing, as he said, 'all those kids.
235
The previous order that the target cities were to be attacked with atomic bombs "as made ready" was thus modified.
236
There was already discussion in the War Department about conserving the bombs then in production for
Operation Downfall
, and Marshall suggested to Stimson that the remaining cities on the target list be spared attack with atomic bombs.
237
On 13 August, General
John E. Hull
and Colonel
Lyle Seeman
discussed the usage of the upcoming weapons, favouring "
tactical use
" in support of an invasion, dropped two to three days prior to U.S. troop capture or amphibious landing, as opposed to continuation of strategic attacks.
238
Two more Fat Man assemblies were readied, and scheduled to leave
Kirtland Field
for Tinian on 11 and 14 August,
239
and Tibbets was ordered by LeMay to return to
Albuquerque, New Mexico
, to collect them.
240
At Los Alamos, technicians worked 24 hours straight to cast
another plutonium core
241
Although cast, it still needed to be pressed and coated, which would take until 16 August.
242
Therefore, it could have been ready for use on 19 August. Unable to reach Marshall, Groves ordered on his own authority on 13 August that the core should not be shipped.
236
Surrender of Japan and subsequent occupation
Main articles:
Surrender of Japan
and
Occupation of Japan
Until 9 August, Japan's war council still insisted on its four conditions for surrender. The full cabinet met at 14:30 on 9 August, and spent most of the day debating surrender. Anami conceded that victory was unlikely, but argued in favor of continuing the war. The meeting ended at 17:30, with no decision having been reached. Suzuki went to the palace to report on the outcome of the meeting, where he met with
Kōichi Kido
, the
Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan
. Kido informed him that the emperor had agreed to hold an imperial conference, and gave a strong indication that the emperor would consent to surrender on condition that
kokutai
be preserved. A second cabinet meeting was held at 18:00. Only four ministers supported Anami's position of adhering to the four conditions, but since cabinet decisions had to be unanimous, no decision was reached before it ended at 22:00.
243
Calling an imperial conference required the signatures of the prime minister and the two service chiefs, but the
Chief Cabinet Secretary
Hisatsune Sakomizu
had already obtained signatures from Toyoda and General
Yoshijirō Umezu
in advance, and he reneged on his promise to inform them if a meeting was to be held. The meeting commenced at 23:50. No consensus had emerged by 02:00 on 10 August, but the emperor gave his "sacred decision",
244
authorizing the
Foreign Minister
Shigenori Tōgō
, to notify the Allies that Japan would accept their terms on one condition, that the declaration "does not comprise any demand which prejudices the prerogatives of His Majesty as a Sovereign ruler."
245
On 12 August, the Emperor informed the imperial family of his decision to surrender. One of his uncles,
Prince Asaka
, asked whether the war would be continued if the
kokutai
could not be preserved. Hirohito simply replied, "Of course."
246
As the Allied terms seemed to leave intact the principle of the preservation of the Throne, Hirohito recorded on 14 August his
capitulation announcement
which was broadcast to the Japanese nation the next day despite an
attempted military coup d'état
by militarists opposed to the surrender.
247
In his declaration's fifth paragraph, Hirohito solely mentions the duration of the conflict; and did not explicitly mention the Soviets as a factor for surrender:
But now the war has lasted for nearly four years. Despite the best that has been done by every one—the gallant fighting of military and naval forces, the diligence and assiduity of Our servants of the State and the devoted service of Our one hundred million people, the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage, while the general trends of the world have all turned against her interest.
The sixth paragraph by Hirohito specifically mentions the use of nuclear ordnance devices, from the aspect of the unprecedented damage they caused:
Moreover, the enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is, indeed, incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives. Should we continue to fight, not only would it result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization.
The seventh paragraph gives the reason for the ending of hostilities against the Allies:
Such being the case, how are we to save the millions of our subjects, or to atone ourselves before the hallowed spirits of our imperial ancestors? This is the reason why we have ordered the acceptance of the provisions of the joint declaration of the powers.
248
In his "Rescript to the Soldiers and Sailors" delivered on 17 August, Hirohito did not refer to the atomic bombs or possible
human extinction
, and instead described the Soviet declaration of war as "endangering the very foundation of the Empire's existence."
249
Three weeks after the bombings, Tibbets decided to visit Hiroshima with some of his team, but landed at Nagasaki instead as Hiroshima's airfield was unusable. They arrived before any American troops and drove into the city, which they found eerie. They were amazed at all the destruction from just one bomb—"It scares the hell out of you".
111
Reportage
See also:
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in popular culture
The front page of
Chicago Daily Tribune
dated 8 August 1945. The cartoon refers back to the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor
to rationalize the American atomic bombing.
The Hiroshima ruins in March and April 1946, by
Daniel A. McGovern
and Harry Mimura
On 10 August 1945, the day after the Nagasaki bombing, military photographer
Yōsuke Yamahata
, correspondent Higashi, and artist Yamada arrived in the city with instructions to record the destruction for
propaganda
purposes. Yamahata took scores of photographs, and on 21 August, they appeared in
Mainichi Shimbun
, a popular Japanese newspaper. After Japan's surrender and the arrival of American forces, copies of his photographs were seized amid the ensuing censorship, but some records have survived.
250
Leslie Nakashima, a former
United Press
(UP) journalist, filed the first personal account of the scene to appear in American newspapers. He observed that large numbers of survivors continued to die from what later became recognized as radiation poisoning.
251
On 31 August,
The New York Times
published an abbreviated version of his 27 August UP article. Nearly all references to uranium poisoning were omitted. An editor's note was added to say that, according to American scientists, "the atomic bomb will not have any lingering after-effects."
252
251
A telegram sent by Fritz Bilfinger, delegate of the
International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC), on 30 August 1945 from Hiroshima
Wilfred Burchett
was also one of the first Western journalists to visit Hiroshima after the bombing. He arrived alone by train from Tokyo on 2 September, defying the traveling ban put in place on Western correspondents.
253
Burchett's dispatch, "The Atomic Plague", was printed by the
Daily Express
newspaper in London on 5 September 1945. The reports from Nakashima and Burchett informed the public for the first time of the gruesome effects of
radiation
and
nuclear fallout
radiation burns
and
radiation poisoning
, sometimes lasting more than thirty days after the blast.
254
255
Burchett especially noted that people were dying "horribly" after bleeding from orifices, and their flesh would rot away from the injection holes where vitamin A was administered, to no avail.
253
The New York Times
then apparently reversed course and ran a front-page story by
Bill Lawrence
confirming the existence of a terrifying affliction in Hiroshima, where many had symptoms such as hair loss and vomiting blood before dying.
253
Lawrence had gained access to the city as part of a press junket promoting the
U.S. Army Air Force
. Some reporters were horrified by the scene, however, referring to what they saw as a "death laboratory" littered with "human guinea pigs". General MacArthur found the reporting to have turned from good PR into bad PR and threatened to court martial the entire group. He withdrew Burchett's press accreditation and expelled the journalist from the occupation zones.
256
The authorities also accused him of being under the sway of Japanese propaganda and later suppressed another story, on the Nagasaki bombing, by
George Weller
of the
Chicago Daily News
. Less than a week after his
New York Times
story was published, Lawrence also backtracked and dismissed the reports on radiation sickness as Japanese efforts to undermine American morale.
257
253
A member of the
United States Strategic Bombing Survey
, Lieutenant
Daniel A. McGovern
, arrived in September 1945 to document the effects of the bombing of Japan.
258
He used a film crew to document the effects of the bombings in early 1946. The film crew shot 27,000 m (90,000 ft) of film, resulting in a three-hour documentary titled
The Effects of the Atomic Bombs Against Hiroshima and Nagasaki
. The documentary included images from hospitals, burned-out buildings and cars, and rows of skulls and bones on the ground. It was classified "secret" for the next 22 years.
259
260
Motion picture company
Nippon Eigasha
started sending cameramen to Nagasaki and Hiroshima in September 1945. On 24 October 1945, a
U.S. military policeman
stopped a
Nippon Eigasha
cameraman from continuing to film in Nagasaki. All
Nippon Eigasha
's
reels were confiscated by the American authorities, but they were requested by the Japanese government, and declassified.
260
The public release of film footage of the city post-attack, and some research about the effects of the attack, was restricted during the
occupation of Japan
261
but the Hiroshima-based magazine,
Chugoku Bunka
, in its first issue published on 10 March 1946, devoted itself to detailing the damage from the bombing.
262
The book
Hiroshima
, written by
Pulitzer Prize
winner
John Hersey
and originally published in article form in
The New Yorker
263
is reported to have reached Tokyo in English by January 1947, and the translated version was released in Japan in 1949.
264
265
266
It narrated the stories of the lives of six bomb survivors from immediately prior to, and months after, the dropping of the Little Boy bomb.
263
Beginning in 1974, a compilation of drawings and artwork made by the survivors of the bombings began to be compiled, with completion in 1977, and under both book and exhibition format, it was titled
The Unforgettable Fire
267
Life among the rubble in Hiroshima in March and April 1946. Film footage taken by Lieutenant Daniel A. McGovern (director) and Harry Mimura (cameraman) for a
United States Strategic Bombing Survey
project.
The bombing amazed
Otto Hahn
and other German atomic scientists, whom the British held at Farm Hall in
Operation Epsilon
. Hahn stated that he had not believed an atomic weapon "would be possible for another twenty years";
Werner Heisenberg
did not believe the news at first.
Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
said "I think it's dreadful of the Americans to have done it. I think it is madness on their part", but Heisenberg replied, "One could equally well say 'That's the quickest way of ending the war
". Hahn was grateful that the German project had not succeeded in developing "such an inhumane weapon";
Karl Wirtz
observed that even if it had, "we would have obliterated London but would still not have conquered the world, and then they would have dropped them on us".
268
Hahn told the others, "Once I wanted to suggest that all uranium should be sunk to the bottom of the ocean".
268
The Vatican agreed;
L'Osservatore Romano
expressed regret that the bomb's inventors did not destroy the weapon for the benefit of humanity.
269
Rev.
Cuthbert Thicknesse
, the
dean of St Albans
, prohibited using
St Albans Abbey
for a thanksgiving service for the war's end, calling the use of atomic weapons "an act of wholesale, indiscriminate massacre".
270
News of the atomic bombing was greeted more positively in the U.S.; a poll in
Fortune
magazine
in late 1945 showed a significant minority of Americans (23 percent) wishing that more atomic bombs could have been dropped on Japan.
271
272
The initial positive response was supported by the imagery presented to the public (mainly the powerful images of the
mushroom cloud
);
271
at this time it was usual in the U.S. not to use graphic images of death.
273
Post-attack casualties
See also:
Epidemiology data for low-linear energy transfer radiation
Acute radiation syndrome § History
Radiobiology
Hiroshima (book)
, and
Terufumi Sasaki
Silent film footage taken in Hiroshima in March 1946 showing survivors with severe burns and
keloid
scars. Survivors were asked to stand in the orientation they were in at the time of the flash, to document and convey the
line-of-sight
nature of
flash burns
, and to show that, much like a
sunburn
, thick clothing and fabric offered protection in many cases. The sometimes extensive
burn scar contracture
is not unusual, being common to all
second- and third-degree burns
when they cover a large area of skin.
An estimated 90,000 to 166,000 people in Hiroshima (between 26 and 49 percent of its population) and 60,000 to 80,000 people in Nagasaki (between 22 and 32 percent of its population) died in 1945, of which a majority in each case were killed on the days of the bombings, due to the force and heat of the blasts themselves. Nearly all of the remainder of victims died within two to four months, due to radiation exposure and resulting complications.
123
152
One
Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission
(ABCC) report discusses 6,882 people examined in Hiroshima and 6,621 people examined in Nagasaki, who were largely within 2,000 meters (6,600 ft) of the
hypocenter
, who suffered injuries from the blast and heat but died from complications frequently compounded by
acute radiation syndrome
(ARS), all within about 20 to 30 days.
274
275
Many people not injured by the blast eventually died within that timeframe as well after suffering from ARS. At the time, the doctors had no idea what the cause was and were unable to effectively treat the condition.
253
Midori Naka
was the first death officially certified to be the result of radiation poisoning or, as it was referred to by many, the "atomic bomb disease". She was some 650 meters (2,130 ft) from the hypocenter at Hiroshima and would die on 24 August 1945 after traveling to Tokyo. It was unappreciated at the time but the average radiation dose that would kill approximately 50 percent of adults (the
LD50
) was approximately halved; that is, smaller doses were made more lethal when the individual experienced concurrent blast or burn
polytraumatic
injuries.
276
Conventional skin injuries that cover a large area frequently result in bacterial infection; the risk of
sepsis
and death is increased when a usually non-lethal radiation dose moderately
suppresses the white blood cell count
277
In the spring of 1948, the ABCC was established in accordance with a presidential directive from Truman to the
National Academy of Sciences
National Research Council
to conduct investigations of the late effects of radiation among the survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
278
In 1956, the ABCC published
The Effect of Exposure to the Atomic Bombs on Pregnancy Termination in Hiroshima and Nagasaki
279
The ABCC became the
Radiation Effects Research Foundation
(RERF) on 1 April 1975. A binational organization run by both the United States and Japan, the RERF is still in operation today.
280
Cancer increases
Cancers do not immediately emerge after exposure to radiation
; instead, radiation-induced cancer has a minimum
latency period
of some five years and above, and
leukemia
some two years and above, peaking around six to eight years later.
281
Jarrett Foley published the first major reports on the significant increased incidence of the latter among survivors. Almost all cases of leukemia over the following 50 years were in people exposed to more than 1
Gy
282
In a
strictly dependent manner dependent on their distance from the hypocenter
, in the 1987
Life Span Study
, conducted by the
Radiation Effects Research Foundation
, a statistical excess of 507 cancers, of undefined lethality, were observed in 79,972
hibakusha
who had still been living between 1958 and 1987 and who took part in the study.
283
As the
epidemiology
study continues with time, the RERF estimates that, from 1950 to 2000, 46 percent of leukemia deaths which may include
Sadako Sasaki
and 11 percent of
solid cancers
of unspecified lethality were likely due to radiation from the bombs or some other post-attack city effects, with the statistical excess being 200 leukemia deaths and 1,700 solid cancers of undeclared lethality. Both of these statistics being derived from the observation of approximately half of the total survivors, strictly those who took part in the study.
284
A meta-analysis from 2016 found that radiation exposure increases cancer risk, but also that the average lifespan of survivors was reduced by only a few months compared to those not exposed to radiation.
285
Birth defect investigations
While during the preimplantation period, that is one to ten days following
conception
, intrauterine radiation exposure of "at least 0.2
Gy
" can cause complications of implantation and death of the
human embryo
286
One of the early studies conducted by the ABCC was on the outcome of pregnancies occurring in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and in a
control
city,
Kure
, located 29 km (18 mi) south of Hiroshima, to discern the conditions and outcomes related to radiation exposure.
287
James V. Neel
led the study which found that the overall number of
birth defects
was not significantly higher among the children of survivors who were pregnant at the time of the bombings.
288
He also studied the longevity of the children who survived the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, reporting that between 90 and 95 percent were still living 50 years later.
289
While the National Academy of Sciences raised the possibility that Neel's procedure did not filter the Kure population for possible radiation exposure which could bias the results,
290
overall, a
statistically insignificant
increase in birth defects occurred directly after the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima when the cities were taken as wholes, in terms of distance from the hypocenters. However, Neel and others noted that in approximately 50 humans who were of an early
gestational age
at the time of the bombing and who were all within about 1 kilometer (0.62 mi) of the hypocenter, an increase in
microencephaly
and
anencephaly
was observed upon birth, with the incidence of these two particular malformations being nearly three times what was to be expected when compared to the
control group
in Kure.
291
In 1985,
Johns Hopkins University
geneticist
James F. Crow
examined Neel's research and confirmed that the number of birth defects was not significantly higher in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
292
Many members of the ABCC and its successor
Radiation Effects Research Foundation
(RERF) were still looking for possible birth defects among the survivors decades later, but found no evidence that they were significantly common among the survivors or
inherited
in the children of survivors.
289
293
Investigations into brain development
See also:
Radiation-induced cognitive decline
Despite the small sample size of 1,600 to 1,800 persons who came forth as
prenatally
exposed at the time of the bombings, that were both within a close proximity to the two hypocenters, to survive the
in utero
absorption of a substantial dose of radiation and then the
malnourished
post-attack environment, data from this cohort do support the increased risk of
severe mental retardation
(SMR), that was observed in some 30 individuals, with SMR being a common outcome of the aforementioned microencephaly. While a lack of statistical data, with just 30 individuals out of 1,800, prevents a definitive determination of a
threshold point
, the data collected suggests a threshold intrauterine or
fetal
dose for SMR, at the most radiosensitive period of cognitive development, when there is the largest number of
undifferentiated
neural cells (8 to 15 weeks post-conception)
to begin at a threshold dose
of approximately "0.09" to "0.15"
Gy
, with the risk then linearly increasing to a 43-percent rate of SMR when exposed to a fetal dose of 1 Gy at any point during these weeks of rapid
neurogenesis
294
295
However either side of this radiosensitive age, none of the prenatally exposed to the bombings at an age
less than
8 weeks, that is prior to
synaptogenesis
or at a gestational age
more than
26 weeks "were observed to be mentally retarded", with the condition therefore being isolated to those solely of 8–26 weeks of age and who absorbed more than approximately "0.09" to "0.15" Gy of
prompt
radiation energy.
294
296
Examination of the prenatally exposed in terms of IQ performance and school records, determined the beginning of a statistically significant reduction in both, when exposed to greater than 0.1 to 0.5 gray, during the same gestational period of 8–25 weeks. However outside this period, at less than 8 weeks and greater than 26 after conception, "there is no evidence of a radiation-related effect on scholastic performance."
294
The reporting of doses in terms of absorbed energy in units of
grays
and
rads
– rather than the biologically significant, biologically weighted
sievert
in both the SMR and cognitive performance data – is typical.
296
The reported threshold dose variance between the two cities is suggested to be a manifestation of the
difference between X-ray and neutron absorption
, with
Little Boy
emitting substantially more
neutron flux
, whereas the
Baratol
that surrounded the core of
Fat Man
filtered or shifted the absorbed neutron-radiation profile, so that the dose of radiation energy received in Nagasaki was mostly that from exposure to X-rays/gamma rays. Contrast this to the environment within 1500 meters of the hypocenter at Hiroshima, where the in-utero dose depended more on the absorption of
neutrons
which have a
higher biological effect per unit of energy absorbed
297
From the
radiation dose reconstruction
work, the estimated
dosimetry
at Hiroshima still has the largest uncertainty as the Little Boy bomb design was never tested before deployment or afterward; as such, the estimated radiation profile absorbed by individuals at Hiroshima had required greater reliance on calculations than the Japanese soil, concrete and roof-tile measurements which began to reach accurate levels and thereby inform researchers, in the 1990s.
298
299
300
Many other investigations into cognitive outcomes, such as
schizophrenia
as a result of prenatal exposure, have been conducted with "no statistically significant linear relationship seen". There is a suggestion that in the most extremely exposed, those who survived within a kilometer or so of the hypocenters, a trend emerges akin to that seen in SMR, though the sample size is too small to determine with any significance.
301
Hibakusha
Main article:
Hibakusha
Torii
Nagasaki
, Japan. One-legged torii in the background
The survivors of the bombings are called
hibakusha
被爆者
pronounced
[çibaꜜkɯ̥ɕa]
or
[çibakɯ̥ꜜɕa]
, a Japanese word that translates to "explosion-affected people". The Japanese government has recognized about 650,000 people as
hibakusha
. As of 31 March 2025
[update]
, 99,130 were still alive, mostly in Japan.
302
The government of Japan recognizes about one percent of these as having illnesses caused by radiation.
303
better source needed
The memorials in Hiroshima and Nagasaki contain lists of the names of the
hibakusha
who are known to have died since the bombings. Updated annually on the anniversaries of the bombings, as of August 2025
[update]
, the memorials record the names of more than 550,000
hibakusha
; 349,246 in Hiroshima
304
and 201,942 in Nagasaki.
305
If they discuss their background,
hibakusha
and their children were (and still are) victims of fear-based
discrimination
and exclusion for marriage or work
306
due to
public ignorance
; much of the public persist with the belief that the
hibakusha
carry some hereditary or even contagious disease.
307
This is despite the fact that no statistically demonstrable increase of birth defects/congenital malformations was found among the
later conceived
children born to survivors of the nuclear weapons used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or has been found in the later conceived children of cancer survivors who had previously received
radiotherapy
308
309
310
The surviving women of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that could conceive, who were exposed to substantial amounts of radiation, had children with no higher incidence of abnormalities/birth defects than the rate which is observed in the Japanese average.
311
312
313
A study of the long-term psychological effects of the bombings on the survivors found that even 17–20 years after the bombings had occurred survivors showed a higher prevalence of
anxiety
and
somatization
symptoms.
314
Double survivors
Perhaps as many as 200 people from Hiroshima sought refuge in Nagasaki. The 2006 documentary
Twice Survived: The Doubly Atomic Bombed of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
documented 165
nijū hibakusha
(lit.
double explosion-affected people
), nine of whom claimed to be in the blast zone in both cities.
315
On 24 March 2009, the Japanese government officially recognized
Tsutomu Yamaguchi
as a double
hibakusha
. He was confirmed to be 3 km (1.9 mi) from ground zero in Hiroshima on a business trip when the bomb was detonated. He was seriously burnt on his left side and spent the night in Hiroshima. He arrived at his home city of Nagasaki on 8 August, the day before the bombing, and he was exposed to residual radiation while searching for his relatives. He was the first officially recognized survivor of both bombings.
316
He died in 2010 of stomach cancer.
317
Korean survivors
See also:
Anti-Korean sentiment in Japan
During the war, Japan brought as many as 670,000 Korean conscripts to Japan to work as
forced labor
318
About 5,000–8,000 Koreans were killed in Hiroshima and 1,500–2,000 in Nagasaki.
319
According to the South Korea Atomic Bomb Victims Association, about 70,000 Koreans were exposed to the bomb. By the end of 1945, some 40,000 (57.1%) had died. The overall rate was about 33.7%.
According to a study by the Gyeonggi Welfare Foundation, some survivors were forced to clear rubble and recover bodies (which were all radioactive). Koreans without local ties remained in the city, exposed to the radioactive fallout and with limited access to medical care, while Japanese evacuees fled to relatives.
320
Korean survivors had a difficult time fighting for the same recognition as
hibakusha
as afforded to all Japanese survivors, a situation which resulted in the denial of free health benefits to them in Japan. Most issues were eventually addressed in 2008 through lawsuits.
321
Memorials
Hiroshima
Hiroshima was subsequently struck by
Typhoon Ida
on 17 September 1945. More than half the bridges were destroyed, and the roads and railroads were damaged, further devastating the city.
322
The population increased from 83,000 soon after the bombing to 146,000 in February 1946.
323
The city was rebuilt after the war, with help from the national government through the Hiroshima Peace Memorial City Construction Law passed in 1949. It provided financial assistance for reconstruction, along with land donated that was previously owned by the national government and used for military purposes.
324
In 1949, a design was selected for the
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
. Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, the closest surviving building to the location of the bomb's detonation, was designated the
Hiroshima Peace Memorial
. The
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
was opened in 1955 in the Peace Park.
325
Hiroshima also contains a
Peace Pagoda
, built in 1966 by
Nipponzan-Myōhōji-Daisanga
326
On 27 January 1981, the Atomic Bombing Relic Selecting Committee of Hiroshima announced to build commemorative plaques at nine historical sites related to the bombing in the year.
Genbaku Dome
Shima Hospital
(hypocenter),
Motoyasu Bridge
ja
all unveiled plaques with historical photographs and descriptions. The rest sites planned including Hondō Shopping Street, Motomachi No.2 Army Hospital site,
Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital
ja
Fukuromachi Elementary School
ja
Hiroshima City Hall
ja
and
Hiroshima Station
. The committee also planned to establish 30 commemorative plaques in three years.
327
Panoramic view of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. The
Genbaku Dome
can be seen in the center left of the image, the Motoyasu Bridge can be seen in the right of the image. The original target for the bomb was the T-shaped
Aioi Bridge
seen in the left of the image.
Nagasaki
Nagasaki was rebuilt and dramatically changed form after the war. The pace of reconstruction was initially slow, and the first simple emergency dwellings were not provided until 1946. The focus on redevelopment was the replacement of war industries with foreign trade, shipbuilding and fishing. This was formally declared when the Nagasaki International Culture City Reconstruction Law was passed in May 1949.
323
New temples were built, as well as new churches owing to an increase in the presence of Christianity. The
Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum
opened in the mid-1990s.
328
Some of the rubble was left as a memorial, such as a
torii
at
Sannō Shrine
, and an arch near ground zero. In 2013, four locations were designated
Registered Monuments
to provide legal protection against future development. These four sites, together with "ground zero" (the hypocenter of the atomic bomb explosion) were collectively designated a
National Historic Site
in 2016.
329
These sites include:
former Nagasaki City Shiroyama Elementary School
旧城山国民学校校舎
. There were no children in the school building at the time as the building was being used for the payroll department of the Mitsubishi Arms Factory, but 138 of the 158 people inside, mostly civilian payroll staff, died.
former Urakami Cathedral Belfry
浦上天主堂旧鐘楼
. The cathedral was located close to the hypocenter and completely destroyed. At the time, it was crowded with worshippers for confession as the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was approaching on 15 August. All were killed.
former Nagasaki Medical University gate
旧長崎医科大学門柱
. The school building and facilities were destroyed by the atomic bomb. Over 850 people, including faculty, staff, students, and nurses, were killed.
Sannō shrine second torii gate
山王神社二の鳥居
Panoramic view of the monument marking the hypocenter, or ground zero, of the atomic bomb explosion over Nagasaki
Debate over bombings
Main article:
Debate over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The role of the bombings in
Japan's surrender
, and the ethical, legal, and military controversies surrounding the United States' justification for them have been the subject of scholarly and popular debate.
330
On one hand, it has been argued that the bombings caused the Japanese surrender, thereby preventing casualties that an invasion of Japan would have involved.
15
331
Stimson talked of saving one million casualties.
332
The naval blockade might have starved the Japanese into submission without an invasion, but this would also have resulted in many more Japanese deaths.
333
However, critics of the bombings have asserted that atomic weapons are fundamentally immoral, that the bombings were
war crimes
, and that they constituted
state terrorism
334
The Japanese may have surrendered without the bombings, but only an
unconditional
surrender would satisfy the Allies.
335
Others, such as historian
Tsuyoshi Hasegawa
, argued that the entry of the Soviet Union into the war against Japan "played a much greater role than the atomic bombs in inducing Japan to surrender because it dashed any hope that Japan could terminate the war through Moscow's mediation".
336
337
A view among critics of the bombings, popularized by American historian
Gar Alperovitz
in 1965, is that the United States used nuclear weapons to intimidate the Soviet Union in the early stages of the
Cold War
. James Orr wrote that this idea became the accepted position in Japan and that it may have played some part in the decision-making of the U.S. government.
338
Legal considerations
Main article:
Aerial bombardment and international law
The
Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907
, which address the codes of wartime conduct on land and at sea, were adopted before the rise of air power. Despite repeated diplomatic attempts to update
international humanitarian law
to include
aerial warfare
, it was not updated before World War II. The absence of specific international humanitarian law did not mean aerial warfare was not covered under the
laws of war
, but rather that there was no general agreement of how to interpret those laws.
339
This means that aerial bombardment of civilian areas in enemy territory by all major belligerents during World War II was not prohibited by
positive
or specific
customary
international humanitarian law.
340
In 1963 the bombings were subjected to judicial review in
Ryuichi Shimoda v. The State
. The District Court of Tokyo ruled the use of nuclear weapons in warfare was not illegal,
341
342
but held in its
obiter dictum
342
that the atomic bombings of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki were illegal under international law of that time, as an indiscriminate bombardment of undefended cities. The court denied the appellants compensation on the grounds that the Japanese government had waived the right for reparations from the U.S. government under the
Treaty of San Francisco
343
Legacy
Main article:
Nuclear warfare
By 30 June 1946, there were components for nine atomic bombs in the U.S. arsenal, all Fat Man devices identical to the one used at Nagasaki.
344
The nuclear weapons were handmade devices, and a great deal of work remained to improve their ease of assembly, safety, reliability and storage before they were ready for production. There were also many improvements to their performance that had been suggested or recommended, but that had not been possible under the pressure of wartime development.
345
The
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Fleet Admiral
William D. Leahy
, decried the use of the atomic bombs as adopting "an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages",
346
but in October 1947 he reported a military requirement for 400 bombs.
347
The American monopoly on nuclear weapons lasted four years before the Soviet Union detonated an atomic bomb in September 1949.
347
The United States responded with the development of the
hydrogen bomb
, a thousand times as powerful as the bombs that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
348
Such ordinary fission bombs would henceforth be regarded as small
tactical nuclear weapons
. By 1986, the United States had 23,317 nuclear weapons and the
Soviet Union
had 40,159. In early 2019, more than 90% of the world's 13,865 nuclear weapons were owned by the United States and Russia.
349
350
By 2020,
nine nations had nuclear weapons
351
Japan, not one of them,
352
reluctantly signed the
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
in February 1970,
353
but remained protected by the United States in the arrangement known as the
nuclear umbrella
. American nuclear weapons were stored on Okinawa, and sometimes in Japan itself, albeit in contravention of agreements between the two nations.
354
Lacking the resources to fight the Soviet Union using conventional forces,
NATO
came to depend on the use of nuclear weapons to defend itself during the
Cold War
, a policy that became known in the 1950s as the
New Look
355
In the decades after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the United States threatened many times to use its nuclear weapons.
356
On 7 July 2017, more than 120 countries voted to adopt the UN
Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
. Elayne Whyte Gómez, president of the UN negotiations, said, "the world has been waiting for this legal norm for 70 years".
357
As of 2024
[update]
, Japan has not signed the treaty.
358
359
360
361
See also
Hiroshima Maidens
– Group of Japanese women disfigured by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima
Setsuko Thurlow
– Survivor, Nobel Peace Prize 2017
Notes
The UK, which had contributed to the Allied development of atomic weapons but was frozen out at the end of the war, exploded an atomic device in 1952 and a thermonuclear weapon in 1957.
Jones 1985
, p. 7.
Jones 1985
, p. 12.
Gowing 1964
, pp. 40–43, 76–79.
Jones 1985
, p. 89.
Johnston, Louis; Williamson, Samuel H. (2023).
"What Was the U.S. GDP Then?"
MeasuringWorth
. Retrieved
30 November
2023
United States
Gross Domestic Product deflator
figures follow the
MeasuringWorth
series.
Jones 1985
, pp. 82–84.
Jones 1985
, pp. 511–516, 522.
Grunden 1998
, pp. 50–52.
Asada, Sadao (June 2007).
Culture Shock and Japanese-American Relations: Historical Essays
. University of Missouri Press. p. 228.
ISBN
978-0-8262-6569-2
. Retrieved
25 July
2023
Giangreco 2009
, pp. 2–3, 49–51.
Williams 1960
, p. 307.
Williams 1960
, p. 532.
Williams 1960
, p. 527.
Long 1963
, pp. 48–49.
Brooks & Stanley 2007
, pp. 41–44.
Appleman et al. 1948
, pp. 462–467.
Coox 1969
, pp. 2540–2544.
Giangreco 2009
, pp. 32–34.
Giangreco 2009
, pp. 125–130.
Giangreco 2009
, pp. 169–171.
Giangreco 2009
, pp. 45–48.
Giangreco 2009
, pp. 121–124.
Drea 1992
, pp. 202–225.
"The Final Months of the War With Japan"
Central Intelligence Agency
. Part III (note 24). Archived from
the original
on 12 June 2007
. Retrieved
17 December
2013
Carroll 2007
, p. 48.
Giangreco 2009
, pp. 98–99.
Frank 1999
, p. 340.
"Minutes of Meeting held at the White House, 18 June 1945"
. Harry S. Truman Library and Museum
. Retrieved
1 January
2024
Giangreco 2009
, p. 112.
Schaffer 1985
, pp. 164–165.
Craven & Cate 1953
, p. 4.
Craven & Cate 1953
, pp. 22–24.
Craven & Cate 1953
, pp. 169–175.
Craven & Cate 1953
, pp. 29–31.
Craven & Cate 1953
, pp. 507–509.
Craven & Cate 1953
, pp. 514–521.
Craven & Cate 1953
, pp. 548–551.
Craven & Cate 1953
, pp. 558–560.
Craven & Cate 1953
, p. 566.
Sandler 2001
, pp. 24–26.
Craven & Cate 1953
, pp. 574–576.
Long, Tony (9 March 2011).
"9 March 1945: Burning the Heart Out of the Enemy"
Wired
. Retrieved
8 August
2011
Laurence M. Vance (14 August 2009).
"Bombings Worse than Nagasaki and Hiroshima"
. The Future of Freedom Foundation. Archived from
the original
on 13 November 2012
. Retrieved
8 August
2011
Joseph Coleman (10 March 2005).
"1945 Tokyo Firebombing Left Legacy of Terror, Pain"
CommonDreams.org
. Archived from
the original
on 27 August 2011
. Retrieved
8 August
2011
Craven & Cate 1953
, pp. 608–610.
Craven & Cate 1953
, pp. 568–570.
Edwards 1996
, p. 83.
Werrell 1996
, p. 250.
Craven & Cate 1953
, p. 750.
Craven & Cate 1953
, pp. 614–617.
Craven & Cate 1953
, pp. 642–643.
Kerr 1991
, p. 207.
Tanaka & Young 2009
, pp. 5, 84–85, 117.
Coox 1994
, pp. 412–414.
Coox 1994
, p. 422.
Zaloga & Noon 2010
, p. 54.
Zaloga & Noon 2010
, pp. 58–59.
Giangreco 2009
, pp. 79–80.
Coox 1994
, p. 429.
"Factsheets: 509th Operational Group"
. Air Force Historical Studies Office. Archived from
the original
on 24 February 2013
. Retrieved
25 December
2011
"History of 509th Composite Group – 313th Bombardment Wing – Twentieth Air Force – Activation to 15 August 1945"
(PDF)
. 509th Composite Group. 1945. pp.
8–
9. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 27 January 2012
. Retrieved
1 February
2012
Tibbets 1998
, pp. 163, 167–168.
"Minutes of 3rd Target Committee Meeting 28 May 1945"
(PDF)
. National Archives.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on 9 August 2006
. Retrieved
9 August
2006
"The Nagasaki atomic bomb damage records, Part 2 Section 1 Chapter 1: Period leading up to the atomic bombing"
Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims
. Archived from
the original
on 27 November 2023
. Retrieved
29 March
2023
Alex, Wellerstein
"The Luck of Kokura"
Restricted Data
. Retrieved
30 April
2019
Campbell 2005
, p. 25.
Craven & Cate 1953
, p. 706.
Campbell 2005
, pp. 14–15.
"History of 509th Composite Group – 313th Bombardment Wing – Twentieth Air Force – Activation to 15 August 1945"
(PDF)
Air Force Historical Research Agency
. Tinian. 1945. pp.
17–
22. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 27 January 2012
. Retrieved
1 February
2012
Campbell 2005
, p. 100.
Christman 1998
, p. 176.
Jones 1985
, pp. 528–529.
"Atomic Bomb: Decision – Target Committee, May 10–11, 1945"
Archived
from the original on 8 August 2005
. Retrieved
6 August
2005
Reischauer 1986
, p. 101.
Kelly 2012
, pp. 183–203.
Groves 1962
, pp. 273, 274.
Wellerstein 2020
, pp. 319–321.
Wellerstein, Alex.
"Henry Stimson didn't go to Kyoto on his honeymoon"
Restricted Data: The Nuclear Secrecy Blog
. Retrieved
25 July
2023
Jones 1985
, p. 529.
Hasegawa 2006
, pp. 67–68.
Hasegawa 2006
, pp. 149–150.
Jones 1985
, p. 530.
Frank 1999
, pp. 255–256.
Compton 1956
, p. 240.
Compton 1956
, pp. 238–239.
Frank 1999
, pp. 255–260.
Newman 1995
, p. 86.
"The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II, A Collection of Primary Sources"
(PDF)
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 162
George Washington University
. 13 August 1945.
Williams, Josette H.
"The Information War in the Pacific, 1945 Paths to Peace"
Central Intelligence Agency
. Archived from
the original
on 13 June 2007
. Retrieved
5 December
2016
Craven & Cate 1953
, p. 656.
Frank 1999
, p. 153.
McNelly 2000
, p. 138.
Lifton 1991
, p. 17.
空襲予告ビラ、高山市民が保管 市内で展示
[Air Raid Notice] (in Japanese). 岐阜新聞社 (Gifu Shinbunsha (Open Library)). Archived from
the original
on 12 October 2013
. Retrieved
31 January
2013
Bungei 1981
, p. 215.
Hewlett & Anderson 1962
, pp. 372–373.
Gowing 1964
, p. 372.
"Minutes of a Meeting of the Combined Policy Committee"
. Washington, DC: United States Department of State. 4 July 1945
. Retrieved
18 September
2017
Craven & Cate 1953
, pp. 712–713.
Letter received from General Thomas Handy to General Carl Spaatz authorizing the dropping of the first atomic bomb
. Series: Black and White Photographs of U.S. Air Force and Predecessors' Activities, Facilities, and Personnel, Domestic and Foreign, 1900–2003. National Archives and Records Administration. 25 July 1945
. Retrieved
26 January
2018
Harry S. Truman, Diary, 25 July 1945
. File Unit: Ross, Mr. And MRS. Charles G. [Truman's Potsdam diary], 1945–1953. Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum. 25 July 1945
. Retrieved
23 October
2020
Hewlett & Anderson 1962
, pp. 389–390.
Hewlett & Anderson 1962
, pp. 395–396.
Frank 1999
, pp. 233–234. The meaning of
mokusatsu
can fall anywhere in the range of "ignore" to "treat with contempt".
Bix 1996
, p. 290.
Asada 1996
, p. 39.
Thomas & Morgan-Witts 1977
, pp. 326, 356, 370.
Hoddeson et al. 1993
, p. 262.
Hoddeson et al. 1993
, p. 265.
Coster-Mullen 2012
, p. 30.
Walker, Stephen (22 June 2025).
'You don't brag about wiping out 60‑70,000 people': the men who dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki"
The Guardian
. Retrieved
22 June
2025
Coster-Mullen 2012
, p. 45.
Campbell 2005
, pp. 38–40.
Giangreco 2009
, pp. 64–65, 163.
Goldstein, Dillon & Wenger 1995
, p. 41.
Giangreco 2009
, pp. 70, 163.
Zaloga & Noon 2010
, p. 59.
United States Strategic Bombing Survey (June 1946).
"U. S. Strategic Bombing Survey: The Effects of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki"
. Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. Archived from
the original
on 11 October 2004
. Retrieved
26 July
2009
Thomas & Morgan-Witts 1977
, pp. 224–225.
Thomas & Morgan-Witts 1977
, p. 38.
Groves 1962
, p. 316.
Frank 1999
, p. 263.
"Frequently Asked Questions about the Atomic-bomb Survivor Research Program"
Radiation Effects Research Foundation
(Formerly known as the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC))
. Retrieved
10 March
2025
Bodden 2007
, p. 20.
Preston 2005
, p. 262.
Fiévé & Waley 2003
, p. 330.
Rotter 2008
, p. 267.
Nathan, Richard (6 August 2021).
"Literary Fallout: The legacies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki"
Red Circle Authors
Archived
from the original on 6 August 2021.
"Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombing Timeline"
. The Atomic Heritage Foundation
. Retrieved
9 August
2020
"509th Timeline: Inception to Hiroshima"
. The Atomic Heritage Foundation. Archived from
the original
on 20 December 2007
. Retrieved
5 May
2007
"Timeline #2: the 509th; The Hiroshima Mission"
. The Atomic Heritage Foundation. Archived from
the original
on 20 June 2013
. Retrieved
4 May
2007
Dietz & Van Kirk 2012
, p. 462.
Dietz & Van Kirk 2012
, p. 467.
Lewis & Tolzer 1957
, p. 72.
"Timeline #2: the 509th; The Hiroshima Mission"
. The Atomic Heritage Foundation. Archived from
the original
on 1 May 2013
. Retrieved
5 May
2007
Rosen, Rebecca J.
"Rare Photo of the Mushroom Cloud Over Hiroshima Discovered in a Former Japanese Elementary School"
The Atlantic
. Retrieved
4 December
2016
Thomas & Morgan-Witts 1977
, pp. 391–392.
Thomas & Morgan-Witts 1977
, p. 414.
Thomas & Morgan-Witts 1977
, p. 415.
Allen 1969
, p. 2566.
Kerr et al 2005
, pp. 42–43.
Malik, John (September 1985).
"The Yields of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Explosions"
(PDF)
. Los Alamos National Laboratory
. Retrieved
9 March
2014
describes how various values were recorded for the B-29's altitude at the moment of bomb release over Hiroshima. The strike report said 9,200 meters (30,200 ft), the official history said 9,600 meters (31,600 ft), Parson's log entry was 10,000 meters (32,700 ft), and the navigator's log was 9,470 meters (31,060 ft)—the latter possibly an error transposing two digits. A later calculation using the indicated atmospheric pressure arrived at the figure of 9,800 meters (32,200 ft). Similarly, several values have been reported as the altitude of the Little Boy bomb at the moment of detonation. Published sources vary in the range of 550 to 610 m (1,800 to 2,000 ft) above the city. The device was set to explode at 575 m (1,885 ft), but this was approximate. Malik uses the figure of 580 m (1,903 ft) plus or minus 15 m (50 ft), determined after data review by
Hubbell et al 1969
. Radar returns from the tops of multistory buildings near the hypocenter may have triggered the detonation at a somewhat higher altitude than planned. Kerr et al. (2005) found that a detonation altitude of 600 m (1,968.5 ft), plus or minus 20 m (65.6 ft), gave the best fit for all the measurement discrepancies.
"The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima, Aug 6, 1945"
United States Department of Energy
. Archived from
the original
on 24 June 2010
. Retrieved
25 June
2010
Thomas & Morgan-Witts 1977
, pp. 423, 427.
"The Bomb: "Little Boy"
. The Atomic Heritage Foundation. Archived from
the original
on 17 April 2021
. Retrieved
5 May
2007
McRaney, W.; McGahan, J. (6 August 1980).
Radiation Dose Reconstruction U.S. Occupation Forces in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 1945–1946 (DNA 5512F)
(PDF)
. Defense Nuclear Agency. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 24 June 2006
. Retrieved
9 June
2006
– via Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
"Super-fortress crew tell their story"
The Guardian
. 8 August 1945
. Retrieved
17 July
2016
Frank 1999
, pp. 264–265.
Hersey, John (1946).
Hiroshima
. Knopf.
Japan Broadcasting Corporation, ed. (1977).
Unforgettable fire: Pictures drawn by atomic bomb survivors
. Pantheon Books.
Del Tredici, Robert (1987).
At Work in the Fields of the Bomb
. Harper and Row. pp.
187–
189.
Wellerstein, Alex
(4 August 2020).
"Counting the dead at Hiroshima and Nagasaki"
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
"U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey: The Effects of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 19 June 1946. President's Secretary's File, Truman Papers"
. Harry S. Truman Library & Museum. p. 9. Archived from
the original
on 1 February 2016
. Retrieved
23 January
2016
"Statements by China and the United States of America during the Inscription of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome)"
UNESCO
Archived
from the original on 29 August 2005
. Retrieved
6 August
2005
"A Photo-Essay on the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki"
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
. Retrieved
4 December
2016
Broad, William J. (23 May 2016).
"The Hiroshima Mushroom Cloud That Wasn't"
The New York Times
. Retrieved
4 December
2016
Toon et al. 2007
, p. 1994.
Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation 2003
, p. 14.
"Special Exhibit 3"
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
. Archived from
the original
on 19 April 2018
. Retrieved
30 August
2010
Kato, Toru (4 June 1999).
"A Short-Sighted Parrot"
Geocities.jp
. Archived from
the original
on 9 March 2009
. Retrieved
25 March
2009
Slavick, Elin O'Hara (27 July 2009).
"Hiroshima: A Visual Record"
Asia-Pacific Journal
(3) e3.
doi
10.1017/S1557466009008420
"Testimony of Akiko Takakura"
transcript from the video Hiroshima Witness produced by the Hiroshima Peace Cultural Center and NHK
. Atomic Archive.
Archived
from the original on 16 April 2007
. Retrieved
30 April
2007
"U. S. Strategic Bombing Survey: The Effects of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 19 June 1946. President's Secretary's File, Truman Papers"
Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum
. p. 7. Archived from
the original
on 1 February 2016
. Retrieved
23 January
2016
Ham 2011
, p. 330.
Ham 2011
, pp. 330–331.
Blume 2020
, p. 5.
Ham 2011
, p. 325.
"Memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki"
The Asahi Shimbun
. 6 August 2005
. Retrieved
18 March
2014
Thomas & Morgan-Witts 1977
, pp. 443–444.
"Heart of Hiroshima Wiped Out as by Giant Bulldozer"
Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890–1954)
. Burnie, Tasmania: National Library of Australia. 9 August 1945. p. 1
. Retrieved
17 September
2013
Ham 2011
, p. 333.
"Americans Killed by Atomic Bomb to be Honored in Hiroshima"
Allgov.com
. 4 June 2009
. Retrieved
28 December
2012
Thomas & Morgan-Witts 1977
, pp. 444–445.
Mitchell, Greg (5 August 2011).
"Hidden History: American POWS Were Killed in Hiroshima"
The Nation
. Archived from
the original
on 18 February 2017
. Retrieved
24 February
2017
"Sheryl P. Walter Declassified/Released US Department of State EO Systematic Review 20 Mar 2014 Sheryl P. Walter Declassified/Released US Department of State EO Systematic Review 20 Mar 2014"
National Archives and Records Administration
. Retrieved
5 December
2016
"Black Rain"
Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity
Yeung, Jessie; Wakatsuki, Yoko (30 July 2020).
"Japan recognizes dozens more 'black rain' victims as Hiroshima survivors"
CNN
Knebel & Bailey 1960
, pp. 175–201
Manhattan Engineer District (29 June 1946).
"The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki"
. Trinity Atomic
. Retrieved
10 January
2013
Groves 1962
, pp. 319–325.
MacGregor 2025
, p. 318.
The speech was not written by Truman, but largely drafted by
Arthur W. Page
, with modifications from the members of the
Interim Committee
. Truman read a version of it on the
USS
Augusta
to news cameras shortly afterwards.
Wellerstein 2021
, pp. 107, 110–111, 119–120
"Statement by the President Announcing the Use of the A-Bomb at Hiroshima"
Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum
. 6 August 1945. Archived from
the original
on 12 June 2019
. Retrieved
2 April
2015
United States Department of State 1960
, pp. 1376–1377.
"Warning Leaflets"
. Atomic Heritage Foundation
. Retrieved
5 December
2016
Hasegawa 2006
, p. 46.
Slavinskiĭ 2004
, pp. 153–154.
Frank 1999
, pp. 288–289.
Hoyt 2001
, p. 401.
Frank 1999
, pp. 283–284.
Russ 1990
, pp. 64–65.
Groves 1962
, p. 342.
"U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey: The Effects of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 19 June 1946. President's Secretary's File, Truman Papers"
. Harry S. Truman Library & Museum. p. 15. Archived from
the original
on 5 November 2018
. Retrieved
21 December
2012
Groves 1962
, p. 309.
Thomas & Morgan-Witts 1977
, pp. 353–354.
Sherwin 2003
, pp. 233–234.
Campbell 2005
, p. 114.
Campbell 2005
, p. 32.
"Timeline #3- the 509th; The Nagasaki Mission"
. The Atomic Heritage Foundation. Archived from
the original
on 11 February 2012
. Retrieved
5 May
2007
Sweeney, Antonucci & Antonucci 1997
, pp. 204–205.
"The Story of Nagasaki"
. Retrieved
29 March
2013
Sweeney, Antonucci & Antonucci 1997
, p. 212.
Sweeney, Antonucci & Antonucci 1997
, p. 211.
Kleeman, Sophie (29 July 2014).
"The Untold Story of How Japanese Steel Workers Saved Their City From the Atomic Bomb"
Mic
"Steel mill worker reveals blocking view of U.S. aircraft on day of Nagasaki atomic bombing"
Mainichi Weekly
. 23 November 2015. Archived from
the original
on 22 November 2015
. Retrieved
23 January
2016
Sweeney, Antonucci & Antonucci 1997
, pp. 213–215.
"Spitzer Personal Diary Page 25 (CGP-ASPI-025)"
. The Atomic Heritage Foundation
. Retrieved
5 May
2007
Sweeney, Antonucci & Antonucci 1997
, pp. 216–217.
Chun 2008
, p. 70.
Hoddeson et al. 1993
, p. 295.
"Stories from Riken"
(PDF)
Riken
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 10 June 2012
. Retrieved
30 April
2007
Kerr et al 2005
, pp. 43, 46.
Wainstock 1996
, p. 92.
Groves 1962
, p. 346.
Sweeney, Antonucci & Antonucci 1997
, pp. 222–226.
Laurence, William L.
"Eyewitness Account of Atomic Bomb Over Nagasaki"
. Atomic Archive
. Retrieved
28 March
2013
Campbell 2005
, p. 222.
Campbell 2005
, p. 184.
Ham 2011
, p. 367.
Sklar 1984
, pp. 56–60.
"Yosuke Yamahata"
noorderlicht.com
. Archived from
the original
on 26 February 2018
. Retrieved
25 February
2018
"A Veiled Truth: The U.S. Censorship of the Atomic Bomb"
Duke East Asia Nexus
. Archived from
the original
on 26 February 2018
. Retrieved
25 February
2018
"Nagasaki memorial adds British POW as A-bomb victim"
Japan Times
. 25 June 2005
. Retrieved
9 January
2009
"Two Dutch POWs join Nagasaki bomb victim list"
Japan Times
. 5 August 2005. Archived from
the original
on 20 December 2005
. Retrieved
9 January
2009
"How Effective Was Navajo Code? One Former Captive Knows"
News from Indian Country
. August 1997
. Retrieved
15 September
2013
"POW's Remarkable Escapes in Nagasaki"
The Argus
. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 19 September 1945. p. 20
. Retrieved
22 February
2014
"Nagasaki marks tragic anniversary"
People's Daily
. 10 August 2005
. Retrieved
14 April
2007
"U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey: The Effects of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 19 June 1946. President's Secretary's File, Truman Papers"
. Harry S. Truman Library & Museum. p. 19. Archived from
the original
on 5 November 2018
. Retrieved
23 January
2016
Glasstone & Dolan 1977
, p. 304.
"Rescue and Relief Activities | 長崎市 平和・原爆"
. City of Nagasaki
. Retrieved
29 January
2018
"The Achievements of Dr. Takashi Nagai | 長崎市 平和・原爆"
Nagasaki Peace
. City of Nagasaki. Archived from
the original
on 26 July 2020
. Retrieved
29 January
2018
"The Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Damage Records | Part1 | Chapter1"
www.peace-nagasaki.go.jp
. Archived from
the original
on 13 October 2025
. Retrieved
18 October
2024
Nichols 1987
, pp. 175, 203, 224.
Rhodes 1986
, p. 689.
Rhodes 1986
, pp. 743.
Bernstein 1991
, pp. 149–173.
Giangreco 2009
, pp. 111–112.
"The Third Shot and Beyond (1945)"
Restricted Data: A Nuclear History Blog
. Retrieved
15 August
2025
Hoddeson et al. 1993
, pp. 396–397.
Terkel, Studs
(1 November 2007).
"Paul Tibbets Interview"
. Aviation Publishing Group. Archived from
the original
on 13 August 2020
. Retrieved
2 January
2012
"Lawrence Litz's Interview (2012)"
. Voices of the Manhattan Project. Archived from
the original
on 1 March 2019
. Retrieved
27 February
2015
Wellerstein, Alex
(16 August 2013).
"The Third Core's Revenge"
nuclearsecrecy.com
. Retrieved
27 January
2015
Hasegawa 2006
, pp. 207–208.
Hasegawa 2006
, pp. 209–210.
Kido & Yoshitake 1966
, p. 1223.
Fujiwara 1991
, p. 129.
Frank 1999
, pp. 316–319.
"Imperial Rescript ending war – What Hirohito really said in his acceptance speech"
. Translated by William Wetherall. Yosha Research
. Retrieved
15 September
2013
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (
link
"Emperor Hirohito's Surrender Rescript to Japanese Troops"
. Taiwan Document Project. Archived from
the original
on 12 February 2012
. Retrieved
15 September
2013
"The Bombing of Nagasaki After Yosuke Yamahata: A collection of 24 photographs taken the day after the bombing, [Japan] 1945–46"
. Bonhams
. Retrieved
5 December
2016
Blume 2020
, pp. 25–26.
Haynes, Danielle (6 August 2015).
"For one reporter, 1945 visit to Hiroshima was about more than a scoop"
United Press International
Blume 2020
, pp. 26–27.
Nakashima, Leslie (27 August 1945).
"Hiroshima as I saw it"
United Press International
Burchett 2004
, pp. 10–25.
Blume 2020
, pp. 28–31.
Goodman, Amy; Goodman, David (5 August 2005).
"The Hiroshima Cover-Up"
The Baltimore Sun
. Retrieved
15 September
2013
"Oppenheimer: Monaghan man who captured nuclear devastation"
BBC News
. 31 March 2024.
Moore 1995
, p. 73.
Greg Mitchell
(7 August 2009).
"The Great Hiroshima Cover-Up"
HuffPost
. Retrieved
26 April
2011
Ishikawa & Swain 1981
, p. 5.
"Destructive Effects"
. Atomic Bomb Museum
. Retrieved
22 December
2016
Angell, Roger (31 July 1995).
"Hersey and History"
The New Yorker
. From the Archives. p. 66
. Retrieved
24 January
2018
Richie, Donald (16 August 2013).
"The pure horror of Hiroshima"
Japan Times
. Retrieved
12 October
2013
Sharp 2000
, pp. 434–452.
Michaub, Jon (8 June 2010).
"Eighty-Five from the Archive: John Hersey"
The New Yorker
. Retrieved
3 February
2014
Japanese Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) 1977
, p. 1.
"Transcript of Surreptitiously Taped Conversations among German Nuclear Physicists at Farm Hall (August 6–7, 1945)"
(PDF)
. German History in Documents and Images
. Retrieved
24 September
2016
"Vatican Regrets Inventors Did Not Destroy Bomb"
The Miami News
. Associated Press. 7 August 1945. p. 1–A
. Retrieved
22 August
2013
{{
cite news
}}
: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (
link
"No Abbey Service"
The Guardian
. 15 August 1945
. Retrieved
17 July
2016
Hixson 2002
, p. 239.
White 1995
, pp. 1–8.
Hein & Selden 1997
, pp. 25–26.
"Latest Knowledge on Radiological Effects: Radiation Health Effects of Atomic Bomb Explosions and Nuclear Power Plant Accidents"
Oughterson, A. W.; LeRoy, G. V.; Liebow, A. A.; Hammond, E. C.; Barnett, H. L.; Rosenbaum, J. D.; Schneider, B. A. (19 April 1951).
Medical Effects Of Atomic Bombs The Report Of The Joint Commission For The Investigation Of The Effects Of The Atomic Bomb In Japan Volume 1
(Report).
doi
10.2172/4421057
OSTI
4421057
CERVENY, T. JAN; MacVITTIE, THOMAS J.; YOUNG, ROBERT W. (27 December 2016).
"ACUTE RADIATION SYNDROME IN HUMANS"
(PDF)
army.mil
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 27 December 2016.
"Nuclear fallout medical effects. Mettler"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 12 July 2018
. Retrieved
10 April
2018
Putnam, Frank W. (12 May 1998).
"The Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission in Retrospect"
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
95
(10).
National Academy of Sciences
5426–
5431.
Bibcode
1998PNAS...95.5426P
doi
10.1073/pnas.95.10.5426
ISSN
0027-8424
PMC
33857
PMID
9576898
National Research Council (1991). Neel, J. V.; Schull, W. J. (eds.).
The Effect of Exposure to the Atomic Bombs on Pregnancy Termination in Hiroshima and Nagasaki
(Report). Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press
. Retrieved
3 September
2023
Ivey, William D. (7 April 1996). Objectives and Success – Linking National Policy Objectives and Military Strategic Objectives to Achieve Success (Report). Fort Belvoir, VA.
doi
10.21236/ada308549
What is Radiation? (Report). United Nations. 12 September 2016. pp.
3–
10.
doi
10.18356/64ea2039-en
ISBN
978-92-1-059959-7
S2CID
124536768
"The Fallout – the medical aftermath of Hiroshima"
. Archived from
the original
on 22 March 2018
. Retrieved
22 May
2018
Peterson & Abrahamson 1998
, p. 101.
"Frequently Asked Questions #2"
Radiation Effects Research Foundation
. Archived from
the original
on 28 November 2010
. Retrieved
2 March
2014
"Long-term health effects of Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs not as dire as perceived"
. Science Daily. 11 August 2016
. Retrieved
16 October
2021
Streffer, Christian (2007). "Biological Effects of Prenatal Irradiation".
Ciba Foundation Symposium 203 – Health Impacts of Large Releases of Radionuclides
. Novartis Foundation Symposia. pp.
155–
166.
doi
10.1002/9780470515006.ch11
ISBN
978-0-470-51500-6
"The Radiation Effects Research Foundation"
Radiation Effects Research Foundation
. Archived from
the original
on 8 March 2009
. Retrieved
25 March
2009
Voosen, Paul (11 April 2011).
"Nuclear Crisis: Hiroshima and Nagasaki cast long shadows over radiation science"
. E&E News
. Retrieved
22 December
2013
"The American Spectator, Volume 35".
Saturday Evening Club
. 2002. p. 57.
Johnston 2008
, p. 143.
"Birth defects among the children of atomic-bomb survivors (1948–1954)"
. Radiation Effects Research Foundation
. Retrieved
22 December
2013
Krimsky & Shorett 2005
, p. 118.
"Data India".
Press Institute of India
. 2008. p. 697.
National Research Council (1990).
Health Effects of Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation: BEIR V
. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi
10.17226/1224
ISBN
978-0-309-03995-6
PMID
25032334
– via nap.edu.
Mole, R. H. (1992). "ICRP and impairment of mental function following prenatal irradiation".
Journal of Radiological Protection
12
(2):
93–
105.
Bibcode
1992JRP....12...93M
doi
10.1088/0952-4746/12/2/005
S2CID
250823660
Otake, Masanori; Yoshimaru, Hiroshi; Schull, William J. (1989).
"Prenatal Exposure to Atomic Radiation and Brain Damage"
Congenital Anomalies
29
(4):
309–
320.
doi
10.1111/j.1741-4520.1989.tb00751.x
S2CID
72075872
Blot, William J.; Miller, Robert W. (1973). "Mental Retardation Following
In
Utero
Exposure
to the Atomic Bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki".
Radiology
106
(3):
617–
619.
doi
10.1148/106.3.617
PMID
4684805
Significant increases at doses greater than 50 rads in Hiroshima and 200 in Nagasaki were found, with the risk of mental retardation generally rising directly with increasing dose. The lower dose-effect in Hiroshima may have been due to irradiation by neutrons which were virtually absent in Nagasaki.
Broad, William J. (13 October 1992).
"New Study Questions Hiroshima Radiation"
The New York Times
Hunter, N.; Charles, M. W. (2002). "The impact of possible modifications to the DS86 dosimetry on neutron risk and relative biological effectiveness".
Journal of Radiological Protection
22
(4):
357–
70.
Bibcode
2002JRP....22..357H
doi
10.1088/0952-4746/22/4/302
PMID
12546224
S2CID
250864399
Maruyama, T.; Kumamoto, Y.; Noda, Y. (January 1988). "Reassessment of gamma doses from the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki".
Radiat. Res
113
(1):
1–
14.
Bibcode
1988RadR..113....1M
doi
10.2307/3577175
JSTOR
3577175
OSTI
5314107
PMID
3340713
Imamura, Y.; Nakane, Y.; Ohta, Y.; Kondo, H. (2007). "Lifetime prevalence of schizophrenia among individuals prenatally exposed to atomic bomb radiation in Nagasaki City".
Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica
100
(5):
344–
349.
doi
10.1111/j.1600-0447.1999.tb10877.x
PMID
10563451
S2CID
39187806
Ryall, Julian (6 August 2025).
"Japan: Passing on the pain of Hiroshima and Nagasaki"
Deutsche Welle
. Retrieved
9 August
2025
"Relief for A-bomb victims"
Japan Times
. 15 August 2007
. Retrieved
2 October
2007
"Hiroshima Marks 80th Anniversary of Atomic Bombing; About 55,000 People Attend Ceremony in Peace Memorial Park"
The Japan News
. 6 August 2025
. Retrieved
12 August
2024
"Nagasaki Marks 80 Years Since Atomic Bombing; Taiwan Attends Ceremony for 1st Time"
The Japan News
. 9 August 2025
. Retrieved
9 August
2025
Simons, Lewis M. (7 June 1984).
"Children of Hiroshima, Nagasaki survivors facing prejudice, discrimination in Japan"
Ottawa Citizen
. Knight-Rider News
. Retrieved
29 January
2016
Matsubara, Hiroshi (8 May 2001).
"Prejudice haunts atomic bomb survivors"
Japan Times
. Archived from
the original
on 10 August 2007
. Retrieved
25 August
2007
Heath, Clark W. (5 August 1992).
"The Children of Atomic Bomb Survivors: A Genetic Study"
JAMA
268
(5):
661–
662.
doi
10.1001/jama.1992.03490050109039
ISSN
0098-7484
Health risk assessment from the nuclear accident after the 2011 Great East Japan and Tsunami, based on a preliminary dose estimation
(PDF)
World Health Organization
. 2013. pp.
23–
24.
ISBN
978-92-4-150513-0
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on 15 December 2017
. Retrieved
9 August
2020
Winther, J. F.; Boice, J. D.; Thomsen, B. L.; Schull, W. J.; Stovall, M.; Olsen, J. H. (1 January 2003).
"Sex ratio among offspring of childhood cancer survivors treated with radiotherapy"
Br J Cancer
88
(3):
382–
387.
doi
10.1038/sj.bjc.6600748
PMC
2747537
PMID
12569380
"Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF)"
rerf.or.jp
. Retrieved
4 August
2020
"Birth defects among the children of atomic-bomb survivors (1948–1954)"
. Radiation Effects Research Foundation. Archived from
the original
on 9 October 2014
. Retrieved
2 February
2014
Voosen, Paul (11 April 2011).
"NUCLEAR CRISIS: Hiroshima and Nagasaki cast long shadows over radiation science"
E&E News
. Archived from
the original
on 25 September 2020
. Retrieved
9 August
2020
Yamada & Izumi 2002
, pp. 409–415.
"Twice Bombed, Twice Survived: Film Explores Untold Stories from Hiroshima & Nagasaki"
Columbia News
. Columbia University. 2 August 2006. Archived from
the original
on 3 April 2009
. Retrieved
31 March
2009
"Japan Confirms First Double A-Bomb Survivor"
. Sky News. 24 March 2009. Archived from
the original
on 18 April 2016
. Retrieved
4 November
2010
"Man who survived two atom bombs dies"
. CNN. 8 January 2010.
Archived
from the original on 7 January 2010
. Retrieved
8 January
2010
Gruhl 2007
, p. 111.
Dower 1996
, p. 140 Dower says that Korean survivor groups use higher estimates.
bbc.com:
Disfigured, shamed and forgotten: BBC visits the Korean survivors of the Hiroshima bomb
Palmer, David (20 February 2008).
"Korean Hibakusha, Japan's Supreme Court and the International Community: Can the U.S. and Japan Confront Forced Labor and Atomic Bombing?"
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
. Retrieved
3 January
2012
Ishikawa & Swain 1981
, p. 6.
"After the Bomb"
. Atomic Bomb Museum
. Retrieved
22 February
2017
"Peace Memorial City, Hiroshima"
. Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation. Archived from
the original
on 6 February 2008
. Retrieved
14 August
2007
"Fifty Years for the Peace Memorial Museum"
. Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. Archived from
the original
on 30 August 2007
. Retrieved
17 August
2007
"Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park"
. Japan Deluxe Tours
. Retrieved
23 May
2017
"ヒロシマの記録 1981 1月"
(in Japanese). Hiroshima Peace Media
. Retrieved
1 November
2022
"Nagasaki History Facts and Timeline"
. World Guides
. Retrieved
22 February
2017
"長崎原爆遺跡"
(in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs
. Retrieved
20 December
2023
Walker 2005
, p. 334.
Jowett & Andrew 2002
, pp. 23–24.
Selden & Selden 1990
, pp. xxx–xxxi.
Walker 1990
, pp. 97–114.
Stohl 1979
, p. 279.
Rhodes 1986
, p. 698 "The bombs were authorized not because the Japanese refused to surrender but because they refused to surrender unconditionally."
Wilson, Ward (30 May 2013).
"The Bomb Didn't Beat Japan. Stalin Did"
Foreign Policy
"Historians: Soviet offensive, key to Japan's WWII surrender, was eclipsed by A-bombs"
Fox News Channel
. Associated Press. 14 August 2010
. Retrieved
18 September
2013
Orr 2008
, pp. 521–529.
Gómez, Javier Guisández (20 June 1998).
"The Law of Air Warfare"
International Review of the Red Cross
38
(323):
347–
363.
doi
10.1017/S0020860400091075
ISSN
1560-7755
. Retrieved
3 March
2023
Terror from the Sky: The Bombing of German Cities in World War II
Berghahn Books
. 2010. p. 167.
ISBN
978-1-8454-5844-7
"Shimoda case (Compensation claim against Japan brought by the residents of Hiroshmina & Nagasaki), Tokyo District Court, 7 December 1963"
International Committee of the Red Cross
The Japanese Annual of International Law: Volume 36
. International Law Association of Japan. 1994. p. 147.
Falk, Richard A. (October 1965). "The Shimoda Case: A Legal Appraisal of the Atomic Attacks Upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki".
The American Journal of International Law
59
(4):
759–
793.
doi
10.2307/2197093
JSTOR
2197093
S2CID
146916745
Ellsberg 2017
, pp. 266–267.
Rhodes 1995
, pp. 212–213.
Khan, Shahedul Anam
(6 August 2017).
"Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki" "An ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages"
The Daily Star
. Retrieved
23 February
2018
Ellsberg 2017
, p. 267.
Ellsberg 2017
, p. 291.
Reichmann, Kelsey (16 June 2019).
"Here's how many nuclear warheads exist, and which countries own them"
Defense News
"Global Nuclear Arsenal Declines, But Future Cuts Uncertain Amid U.S.-Russia Tensions"
. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). 17 June 2019.
Archived
from the original on 2 July 2019.
"Nuclear weapons: Which countries have them and how many are there?"
. BBC News. 14 January 2020.
Ellsberg 2017
, p. 269.
Quester 1970
, p. 765.
Ellsberg 2017
, pp. 80–82.
Hewlett & Holl 1989
, p. 272.
Ellsberg 2017
, pp. 319–322.
"122 countries adopt 'historic' UN treaty to ban nuclear weapons"
. CBC News. 7 July 2017.
"Editorial: It's time for Japan to step up and join nuclear ban treaty"
The Asahi Shimbun
. 7 July 2020. Archived from
the original
on 23 September 2020
. Retrieved
15 August
2020
"Nagasaki marks 75th A-bomb anniversary with call for Japan to sign nuke ban as new arms race looms"
Japan Times
. 9 August 2020. Archived from
the original
on 31 August 2020
. Retrieved
15 August
2020
"Japan | Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons"
. International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
. Retrieved
23 November
2022
Watanabe, Yosuke (21 April 2024).
"New group sets 2030 deadline for Japan to join nuke ban treaty"
The Asahi Shimbun
. Retrieved
7 December
2024
References
Allen, Louis (1969). "The Nuclear Raids". In
Hart, Basil Liddell
(ed.).
History of the Second World War
. Vol. 6. London: Purnell. pp.
2566–
2576.
OCLC
2466051
Appleman, Roy E.; Burns, James M.; Gugeler, Russell A.; Stevens, John (1948).
Okinawa: The Last Battle
. The United States Army in World War II: The War in the Pacific. Washington, D.C.: United States Army Center of Military History.
OCLC
226537810
. Archived from
the original
on 26 September 2009
. Retrieved
26 January
2018
Asada, Sadao (1996). "The Shock of the Atomic Bomb and Japan's Decision to Surrender: A Reconsideration". In Maddox, Robert James (ed.).
Hiroshima in History
. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press. pp.
24–
58.
ISBN
978-0-8262-1962-6
OCLC
720831424
World War II: A 50th Anniversary History
. London: Hale. 1990.
ISBN
978-0-7090-3991-4
OCLC
20394384
Bernstein, Barton J.
(Spring 1991). "Eclipsed by Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Early Thinking about Tactical Nuclear Weapons".
International Security
15
(4):
149–
173.
doi
10.2307/2539014
ISSN
0162-2889
JSTOR
2539014
S2CID
153724357
Bix, Herbert
(1996). "Japan's Delayed Surrender: A Reinterpretation". In Hogan, Michael J. (ed.).
Hiroshima in History and Memory
. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp.
80–
115.
ISBN
978-0-521-56682-7
Blume, Lesley M. M. (2020).
Fallout: the Hiroshima cover-up and the reporter who revealed it to the world
. New York: First Simon & Schuster.
ISBN
978-1-982128-51-7
Bodden, Valerie (2007).
The Bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki
. Mankato, Minnesota: The Creative Company.
ISBN
978-1-58341-545-0
Brooks, Risa; Stanley, Elizabeth A. (2007).
Creating Military Power: the Sources of Military Effectiveness
. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
ISBN
978-0-8047-5399-9
Bungei, Shunjū Senshi Kenkyūkai (1981).
The Day Man Lost: Hiroshima
. Tokyo: Kodansha International.
ISBN
978-0-87011-471-7
Burchett, Wilfred
(2004). "The Atomic Plague". In
Pilger, John
(ed.).
Tell me No Lies
. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press. pp.
10–
25.
ISBN
978-0-224-06288-6
OCLC
61395938
Campbell, Richard H. (2005).
The Silverplate Bombers: A History and Registry of the
Enola Gay
and Other B-29s Configured to Carry Atomic Bombs
. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company.
ISBN
978-0-7864-2139-8
OCLC
58554961
Carroll, James (2007).
House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power
. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
ISBN
978-0-618-87201-5
Christman, Albert B. (1998).
Target Hiroshima: Deak Parsons and the Creation of the Atomic Bomb
. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.
ISBN
978-1-55750-120-2
OCLC
38257982
Chun, Clayton K. S. (2008).
Japan, 1945: From Operation Downfall to Hiroshima and Nagasaki
. Oxford: Osprey.
ISBN
978-1-84603-284-4
OCLC
191922849
Compton, Arthur (1956).
Atomic Quest
. New York: Oxford University Press.
OCLC
173307
Coox, Alvin D.
(1969). "Japan at the End of Her Tether". In
Hart, Basil Liddell
(ed.).
History of the Second World War
. Vol. 6. London: Purnell. pp.
2536–
2544.
OCLC
2466051
Coox, Alvin D. (1994).
"Air War Against Japan"
. In Cooling, B. Franklin (ed.).
Case Studies in the Achievement of Air Superiority
. Washington, D.C.: Center for Air Force History. pp.
383–
452.
ISBN
978-0-912799-63-6
OCLC
842361345
. Retrieved
2 March
2014
Coster-Mullen, John
(2012).
Atom Bombs: The Top Secret Inside Story of Little Boy and Fat Man
. Waukesha, Wisconsin: J. Coster-Mullen.
OCLC
298514167
Craven, Wesley; Cate, James, eds. (1953).
The Pacific: Matterhorn to Nagasaki
. The Army Air Forces in World War II. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
OCLC
256469807
. Retrieved
2 March
2014
Dietz, Suzanne Simon;
Van Kirk, Theodore Jerome
(2012).
My true course: Dutch Van Kirk, Northumberland to Hiroshima
. Lawrenceville, Georgia: Red Gremlin Press.
ISBN
978-0-692-01676-3
OCLC
797975707
Dower, John W.
(1996). "The Bombed". In Hogan, Michael J. (ed.).
Hiroshima in History and Memory
. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp.
116–
142.
ISBN
978-0-521-56682-7
OCLC
466874831
Drea, Edward J. (1992).
MacArthur's ULTRA: Codebreaking and the War Against Japan, 1942–1945
. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas.
ISBN
978-0-7006-0504-0
OCLC
23651196
Edwards, Pail N. (1996).
The Closed World: Computers and the Politics of Discourse in Cold War America
. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
ISBN
978-0-262-55028-4
OCLC
807140394
Ellsberg, Daniel
(2017).
The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner
. New York; London: Bloomsbury USA.
ISBN
978-1-60819-670-8
OCLC
968158870
Fiévé, Nicolas; Waley, Paul (2003).
Japanese Capitals in Historical Perspective: Place, Power and Memory in Kyoto, Edo and Tokyo
. London: RoutledgeCurzon.
ISBN
978-0-7007-1409-4
Frank, Richard B.
(1999).
Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire
. New York: Random House.
ISBN
978-0-679-41424-7
Fujiwara, Akira (1991).
Tettei kenshō Shōwa Tennō "dokuhakuroku"
. Tōkyō: Ōtsuki Shoten.
ISBN
978-4-272-52022-0
Giangreco, D.M. (2009).
Hell to Pay: Operation Downfall and the Invasion of Japan 1945–1947
. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.
ISBN
978-1-59114-316-1
OCLC
643381863
Glasstone, Samuel; Dolan, Philip J., eds. (1977).
The Effects of Nuclear Weapons
. Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Defense and the Energy Research and Development Administration.
Bibcode
1977enw..book.....G
OCLC
4016678
. Retrieved
5 December
2016
Goldstein, Donald; Dillon, Katherine V; Wenger, J Michael (1995).
Rain of Ruin: a Photographic History of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
. Washington, D.C.: Brassey's.
ISBN
978-1-57488-033-5
OCLC
31969557
Gowing, Margaret
(1964).
Britain and Atomic Energy, 1935–1945
. London: Macmillan Publishing.
OCLC
3195209
Groves, Leslie
(1983) [1962].
Now it Can be Told: The Story of the Manhattan Project
. New York: Da Capo Press.
ISBN
978-0-306-80189-1
OCLC
932666584
Gruhl, Werner (2007).
Imperial Japan's World War II, 1931–1945
. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.
ISBN
978-0-7658-0352-8
OCLC
76871604
Grunden, Walter E. (1998). "Hungnam and the Japanese atomic bomb: Recent Historiography of a Postwar Myth".
Intelligence and National Security
13
(2):
32–
60.
doi
10.1080/02684529808432475
ISSN
0268-4527
Ham, Paul
(2011).
Hiroshima Nagasaki
. Sydney: HarperCollins.
ISBN
978-0-7322-8845-7
OCLC
746754306
Hasegawa, Tsuyoshi
(2006).
Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan
. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
ISBN
978-0-674-01693-4
Hein, Laura; Selden, Mark, eds. (1997).
Living with the Bomb: American and Japanese Cultural Conflicts in the Nuclear Age
. New York: M.E. Sharpe.
ISBN
978-1-56324-967-9
Hewlett, Richard G.
; Anderson, Oscar E. (1962).
The New World, 1939–1946
(PDF)
. A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
OCLC
493738019
. Retrieved
26 March
2013
Hewlett, Richard G.
; Holl, Jack M. (1989).
Atoms for Peace and War, 1953–1961: Eisenhower and the Atomic Energy Commission
(PDF)
. A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission. University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press.
ISBN
978-0-520-06018-0
OCLC
82275622
. Retrieved
31 May
2017
Eyewitness Testimonies: Appeals from the A-Bomb Survivors
(3rd ed.). Hiroshima: Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation. 2003.
OCLC
853288543
Hixson, Walter L. (2002).
The American Experience in World War II: The Atomic Bomb in History and Memory
. New York: Routledge.
ISBN
978-0-415-94035-1
OCLC
59464269
Hoddeson, Lillian
; Henriksen, Paul W.; Meade, Roger A.;
Westfall, Catherine L.
(1993).
Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos During the Oppenheimer Years, 1943–1945
. New York: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
978-0-521-44132-2
OCLC
26764320
Hoyt, Edwin P. (2001).
Japan's War: The Great Pacific Conflict
. New York: McGraw-Hill.
ISBN
978-0-8154-1118-5
OCLC
12722494
Hubbell, Harry; Cheka, Joseph; Jones, Throyce (1969).
The Epicenters of the Atomic Bombs. Reevaluation of All Available Physical Data With Recommended Values
. Hiroshima: Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission.
OCLC
404745043
Ishikawa, Eisei; Swain, David L. (1981).
Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The Physical, Medical, and Social Effects of the Atomic Bombings
. New York: Basic Books.
ISBN
978-0-465-02985-3
OCLC
715904227
Japanese Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) (1977).
Unforgettable Fire: Pictures Drawn by Atomic Bomb Survivors
. New York: Pantheon Books.
ISBN
978-0-394-74823-8
Johnston, Barbara Rose (2008).
The Consequential Damages of Nuclear War: The Rongelap Report
. Walnutt Creek: Left Coast Press.
ISBN
978-1-59874-346-3
Jones, Vincent
(1985).
Manhattan: The Army and the Atomic Bomb
. The United States Army in World War II: Special Studies. Washington, D.C.: United States Army Center of Military History.
OCLC
10913875
Jowett, Philip S.; Andrew, Stephen (2002).
The Japanese Army 1931–45: 2 1942–45
. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
ISBN
978-1-84176-354-5
OCLC
59395824
Kelly, Jason M. (2012).
"Why Did Henry Stimson Spare Kyoto from the Bomb?: Confusion in Postwar Historiography"
Journal of American-East Asian Relations
19
(2):
183–
203.
doi
10.1163/18765610-01902004
ISSN
1058-3947
Kerr, E. Bartlett (1991).
Flames Over Tokyo: the US Army Air Forces' Incendiary Campaign against Japan 1944–1945
. New York: Donald I. Fine Inc.
ISBN
978-1-55611-301-7
Kerr, George D.; Young, Robert W.; Cullings, Harry M.; Christy, Robert F. (2005). "Bomb Parameters". In Young, Robert W.; Kerr, George D. (eds.).
Reassessment of the Atomic Bomb Radiation Dosimetry for Hiroshima and Nagasaki – Dosimetry System 2002
(PDF)
. Hiroshima: The Radiation Effects Research Foundation. pp.
42–
61.
OCLC
271477587
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 10 August 2015
. Retrieved
10 March
2014
Kido, Kōichi
; Yoshitake, Oka (1966).
木戶幸一日記
Kido Kōichi Diary
] (in Japanese). Tōkyō:
Tōkyō Daigaku Shuppankai
ISBN
978-4-13-030012-4
OCLC
959675458
Knebel, Fletcher; Bailey, Charles W. (1960).
No High Ground
. New York: Harper and Row.
OCLC
1212857
Krimsky, Sheldon; Shorett, Peter (2005).
Rights and Liberties in the Biotech Age: Why We Need a Genetic Bill of Rights
. Lantham: Rowman & Littlefield.
ISBN
978-0-7425-4341-6
Lewis, Robert A.
; Tolzer, Eliot (August 1957). "How We Dropped the A-Bomb".
Popular Science
. pp.
71–
75,
209–
210.
ISSN
0161-7370
Lifton, Robert Jay (1991).
Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima
. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press.
ISBN
978-0-8078-4344-4
OCLC
490493399
Long, Gavin
(1963).
The Final Campaigns
. Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 1 – Army. Vol. 7. Canberra: Australian War Memorial.
OCLC
1297619
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 25 May 2009
. Retrieved
31 October
2011
MacGregor, Iain (2025).
The Hiroshima Men
. London, UK: Constable/Scribner.
ISBN
978-1-40871-950-3
McNelly, Theodore H. (2000). "The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb". In Jacob Neufeld (ed.).
Pearl to V-J Day: World War II in the Pacific
. New York: Diane Publishing Co. pp.
131–
170.
ISBN
978-1-4379-1286-9
Moore, Mike (July–August 1995). "Troublesome Imagery".
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
54
(4):
73–
74.
ISSN
0096-3402
Newman, Robert P. (1995).
Truman and the Hiroshima Cult
. East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University Press.
ISBN
978-0-87013-403-6
OCLC
32625518
Nichols, Kenneth David
(1987).
The Road to Trinity: A Personal Account of How America's Nuclear Policies Were Made
. New York: William Morrow and Company.
ISBN
0-688-06910-X
OCLC
15223648
Orr, James J. (2008). "Review of
Hiroshima in History: The Myths of Revisionism
and
The End of the Pacific War
".
Journal of Japanese Studies
34
(2):
521–
528.
doi
10.1353/jjs.0.0036
ISSN
0095-6848
JSTOR
27756604
S2CID
144221035
Peterson, Leif E.; Abrahamson, Seymour, eds. (1998).
Effects of Ionizing Radiation: Atomic Bomb Survivors and Their Children
. Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press.
OCLC
937289722
Preston, Diana (2005).
Before The Fallout: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima
. New York: Walker & Co.
ISBN
978-0-8027-1445-9
Quester, George H. (September 1970). "Japan and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty".
Asian Survey
10
(9):
765–
778.
doi
10.2307/2643028
ISSN
0004-4687
JSTOR
2643028
Reischauer, Edwin O. (1986).
My Life Between Japan And America
. New York: Harper & Row.
ISBN
978-0-06-039054-9
OCLC
13114344
Rhodes, Richard
(1986).
The Making of the Atomic Bomb
. New York: Simon & Schuster.
ISBN
0-671-44133-7
OCLC
13793436
Rhodes, Richard
(1995).
Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb
. New York:
Simon & Schuster
ISBN
978-0-68-480400-2
LCCN
95011070
OCLC
456652278
OL
7720934M
– via
Internet Archive
Rotter, Andrew J. (2008).
Hiroshima: The World's Bomb
. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
ISBN
978-0-19-280437-2
Russ, Harlow W. (1990).
Project Alberta: The Preparation of Atomic Bombs For Use in World War II
. Los Alamos, New Mexico: Exceptional Books.
ISBN
978-0-944482-01-8
OCLC
24429257
Sandler, Stanley (2001).
World War II in the Pacific: an Encyclopedia
. New York: Taylor & Francis.
ISBN
978-0-8153-1883-5
OCLC
44769066
Schaffer, Ronald (1985).
Wings of Judgment: American Bombing in World War II
. New York: Oxford University Press.
ISBN
978-0-19-503629-9
OCLC
11785450
Selden, Kyoko Iriye
Selden, Mark
, eds. (1990).
The Atomic Bomb: Voices from Hiroshima and Nagasaki
. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe.
ISBN
978-0-87332-773-2
OCLC
20057103
Sharp, Patrick B. (2000). "From Yellow Peril to Japanese Wasteland: John Hersey's 'Hiroshima'
".
Twentieth Century Literature
46
(4):
434–
452.
doi
10.2307/827841
ISSN
0041-462X
JSTOR
827841
Sherwin, Martin J.
(2003).
A World Destroyed: Hiroshima and its Legacies
. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
ISBN
978-0-8047-3957-3
OCLC
52714712
Sklar, Morty, ed. (1984).
Nuke-rebuke: Writers & Artists Against Nuclear Energy & Weapons
. Iowa City, Iowa: The Spirit That Moves Us Press.
ISBN
978-0-930370-16-9
OCLC
10072916
Slavinskiĭ, Boris Nikolaevich (2004).
The Japanese-Soviet Neutrality Pact: A Diplomatic History, 1941–1945
. Nissan Institute/Routledge Japanese Studies Series. London; New York: RoutledgeCurzon.
ISBN
978-0-415-32292-8
Stohl, Michael (1979).
The Politics of Terrorism
. New York: M. Dekker.
ISBN
978-0-8247-6764-8
OCLC
4495087
Sweeney, Charles
; Antonucci, James A.; Antonucci, Marion K. (1997).
War's End: An Eyewitness Account of America's Last Atomic Mission
. New York: Quill Publishing.
ISBN
978-0-380-78874-3
Tanaka, Yuki
; Young, Marilyn B. (2009).
Bombing Civilians: A Twentieth Century History
. New York: New Press.
ISBN
978-1-59558-547-9
OCLC
624416971
Thomas, Gordon; Morgan-Witts, Max (1977).
Ruin from the Air
. London: Hamilton.
ISBN
978-0-241-89726-3
OCLC
252041787
Tibbets, Paul W. (1998).
Return Of The Enola Gay
. New Hope, Pennsylvania: Enola Gay Remembered.
ISBN
978-0-9703666-0-3
OCLC
69423383
Toon, O. B.; Turco, R. P.; Robock, A.; Bardeen, C.; Oman, L.; Stenchikov, G. L. (2007).
"Atmospheric Effects and Societal Consequences of Regional Scale Nuclear Conflicts and Acts of Individual Nuclear Terrorism"
(PDF)
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
(8):
1973–
2002.
Bibcode
2007ACP.....7.1973T
doi
10.5194/acp-7-1973-2007
ISSN
1680-7316
. Retrieved
4 December
2016
United States Department of State (1960).
Diplomatic Papers: The Conference of Berlin (the Potsdam Conference), 1945
Foreign Relations of the United States
. Vol. 2. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
OCLC
22435734
Wainstock, Dennis D. (1996).
The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb
. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.
ISBN
978-0-275-95475-8
OCLC
33243854
Walker, J. Samuel (January 1990).
"The Decision to Use the Bomb: A Historiographical Update"
Diplomatic History
14
(1):
97–
114.
doi
10.1111/j.1467-7709.1990.tb00078.x
ISSN
1467-7709
Walker, J. Samuel (April 2005). "Recent Literature on Truman's Atomic Bomb Decision: A Search for Middle Ground".
Diplomatic History
29
(2):
311–
334.
doi
10.1111/j.1467-7709.2005.00476.x
ISSN
1467-7709
S2CID
154708989
Wellerstein, Alex
(2020). "The Kyoto Misconception: What Truman Knew, and Didn't Know, About Hiroshima". In Gordin, Michael D.; Ikenberry, G. John (eds.).
The Age of Hiroshima
(PDF)
. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp.
34–
55,
317–
321.
ISBN
978-0-691-19344-1
OCLC
1099689341
. Retrieved
26 July
2023
Wellerstein, Alex
(2021).
Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy
. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
ISBN
978-0-226-02038-9
OCLC
1178870332
Werrell, Kenneth P. (1996).
Blankets of Fire: U.S. Bombers over Japan during World War II
. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
ISBN
978-1-56098-665-2
OCLC
32921746
White, Geoffrey. M. (July 1995).
"Memory Wars: The Politics of Remembering the Asia-Pacific War"
(PDF)
Asia-Pacific Issues
(21).
ISSN
1522-0966
. Retrieved
30 June
2013
Williams, M. H. (1960).
Chronology, 1941–1945
. Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army.
OCLC
1358166
Yamada, Michiko; Izumi, Shizue (2002). "Psychiatric Sequelae in Atomic Bomb Survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki Two Decades After the Explosions".
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
37
(9):
409–
415.
doi
10.1007/s00127-002-0572-5
ISSN
0933-7954
PMID
12242616
S2CID
7257634
Zaloga, Steven J.
; Noon, Steve (2010).
Defense of Japan 1945
. Fortress. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
ISBN
978-1-84603-687-3
OCLC
503042143
Further reading
"Hiroshima and Nagasaki Missions – Planes & Crews"
. Atomic Heritage Foundation. 2016.
Allen, Thomas; Polmar, Norman (1995).
Code-Name Downfall
. New York: Simon & Schuster.
ISBN
978-0-684-80406-4
Alperovitz, Gar
; Tree, Sanho (1996).
The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb
. New York: Vintage.
ISBN
978-0-679-76285-0
Barrett, David Dean (2020).
140 Days to Hiroshima: The Story of Japan's Last Chance to Avert Armageddon
. Diversion Books.
ISBN
978-1-63576-581-6
Bernstein, Barton J.
(1986). "A postwar myth: 500,000 U.S. lives saved".
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
42
(6):
38–
40.
Bibcode
1986BuAtS..42f..38B
doi
10.1080/00963402.1986.11459388
The Committee for the Compilation of Materials on Damage Caused by the Atomic Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1981).
Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The Physical, Medical, and Social Effects of the Atomic Bombings
. New York: Basic Books.
ISBN
978-0-465-02985-3
Delgado, James P.
(2009).
Nuclear Dawn: the Atomic Bomb, from the Manhattan Project to the Cold War
. New York: Osprey.
ISBN
978-1-84603-396-4
OCLC
297147193
Thomas, Evan
(2023).
Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II
. New York: Random House.
ISBN
978-0-399-58925-6
Gallichio, Marc (2020).
Unconditional: The Japanese Surrender in World War II
. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Gordin, Michael D. (2007).
Five Days in August: How World War II Became a Nuclear War
. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
ISBN
978-0-691-12818-4
OCLC
70630623
Gosling, Francis George (1994).
The Manhattan Project: Making the Atomic Bomb
. Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Energy, History Division.
OCLC
637052193
Hachiya, Michihiko (1995).
Hiroshima Diary: The Journal of a Japanese Physician, August 6 – 30 September 1945
. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press.
ISBN
978-0-80784-547-9
Krauss, Robert; Krauss, Amelia (2005).
The 509th Remembered: A History of the 509th Composite Group as Told by the Veterans Themselves
. Buchanan, Michigan: 509th Press.
ISBN
978-0-923568-66-5
OCLC
59148135
Merton, Thomas (1962).
Original Child Bomb: Points for Meditation to be Scratched on the Walls of a Cave
. New York: New Directions.
OCLC
4527778
Murakami, Chikayasu (2007).
Hiroshima no shiroi sora (The White Sky in Hiroshima)
. Tokyo: Bungeisha.
ISBN
978-4-286-03708-0
O'Brien, Phillips Payson (2019).
"The Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Atom Bomb, the American Military Mind and the End of the Second World War"
(PDF)
Journal of Strategic Studies
42
(7):
971–
991.
doi
10.1080/01402390.2018.1559150
hdl
10023/20214
S2CID
159190983
. Retrieved
5 December
2023
Ogura, Toyofumi (2001).
Letters from the End of the World: A Firsthand Account of the Bombing of Hiroshima
. Tokyo: Kodansha International.
ISBN
978-4-7700-2776-4
Sekimori, Gaynor (1986).
Hibakusha: Survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
. Tokyo: Kosei Publishing Company.
ISBN
978-4-333-01204-6
Toll, Ian W.
(2020).
Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944–1945
. New York: W. W. Norton.
ISBN
978-0-393-08065-0
Walker, J. Samuel (2016).
Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs against Japan
(3rd ed.). Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
ISBN
978-1-4696-2897-4
Ward, Wilson (Spring 2007). "The Winning Weapon? Rethinking Nuclear Weapons in Light of Hiroshima".
International Security
31
(4):
162–
179.
doi
10.1162/isec.2007.31.4.162
ISSN
1531-4804
S2CID
57563920
Warren, Stafford L.
(1966). "Manhattan Project". In Ahnfeldt, Arnold Lorentz (ed.).
Radiology in World War II
. Washington, D.C.: Office of the Surgeon General, Department of the Army. pp.
831–
922.
OCLC
630225
Historiography
Kort, Michael. "The Historiography of Hiroshima: The Rise and Fall of Revisionism."
New England Journal of History
64.1 (2007): 31–48.
online
Newman, Robert P. "Hiroshima and the Trashing of Henry Stimson"
The New England Quarterly,
71#1 (1998), pp. 5–32
in JSTOR
External links
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
at Wikipedia's
sister projects
Media
from Commons
Quotations
from Wikiquote
Data
from Wikidata
Decision
Order from General Thomas Handy to General Carl Spaatz authorizing the dropping of the first atomic bomb
. Wikisource. 2015.
"Documents on the Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb"
Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum
. Archived from
the original
on 5 October 2011
. Retrieved
3 January
2012
"Correspondence Regarding Decision to Drop the Bomb"
. Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. Archived from
the original
on 31 March 2010
. Retrieved
3 January
2012
Effects
"The Effects of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki"
U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey
Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum
. 1946. Archived from
the original
on 16 November 2018
. Retrieved
3 January
2012
"Scientific Data of the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Disaster"
. Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University
. Retrieved
3 January
2012
"Tale of Two Cities: The Story of Hiroshima and Nagasaki"
. National Science Digital Library
. Retrieved
3 January
2012
"The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki"
. Atomic Archive. 1946
. Retrieved
3 January
2012
"The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II"
(PDF)
National Security Archive
. Retrieved
3 January
2012
"Photo gallery of aftermath pictures"
. Time-Life. Archived from
the original
on 19 July 2012
. Retrieved
8 February
2014
"Photo Essay: Hiroshima and Nagasaki: 75th anniversary of atomic bombings"
BBC News
. 8 August 2020
. Retrieved
9 August
2020
The short film
Children of Hiroshima (Reel 1 of 2) (1952)
is available for free viewing and download at the
Internet Archive
The short film
Children of Hiroshima (Reel 2 of 2) (1952)
is available for free viewing and download at the
Internet Archive
Video footage of the bombing of Nagasaki (silent)
on
Reconstruction video of the bombing of Hiroshima
on
Hiroshima – 1945 – Movietone Moment
on
The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki
public domain audiobook at
LibriVox
Archives
"Nagasaki Archive"
. Google Earth mapping of Nagasaki bombing archives. Archived from
the original
on 4 March 2022
. Retrieved
3 January
2012
"Hiroshima Archive"
. Google Earth mapping of Hiroshima bombing archives
. Retrieved
3 January
2012
Bibliographies
"Annotated bibliography for atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki"
. Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues. Archived from
the original
on 5 March 2012
. Retrieved
3 January
2012
Commemoration
Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall For The Atomic Bomb Victims
Archived
3 September 2009 at the
Wayback Machine
Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall For The Atomic Bomb Victims
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
Hiroshima and Nagasaki: A Look Back at the US Atomic Bombing 64 Years Later
– video by
Democracy Now!
Hiroshima & Nagasaki Remembered
2005 website commemorating 60th anniversary
Manhattan Project
Timeline
Sites
Ames
Berkeley
Chicago
Site A
Dayton
Hanford
Inyokern
Los Alamos
Montreal
New York
Oak Ridge
Salt Wells Pilot Plant
Trinity
Wendover
Heavy water sites
Administrators
Lyman Briggs
Vannevar Bush
Arthur Compton
James B. Conant
Priscilla Duffield
Thomas Farrell
Leslie Groves
John Lansdale
Ernest Lawrence
James Marshall
Franklin Matthias
Dorothy McKibbin
Kenneth Nichols
Robert Oppenheimer
Deak Parsons
Boris Pash
William Purnell
Frank Spedding
Charles Thomas
Paul Tibbets
Bud Uanna
Harold Urey
Stafford Warren
Ed Westcott
Roscoe Wilson
Scientists
Luis Alvarez
Robert Bacher
Hans Bethe
Aage Bohr
Niels Bohr
Norris Bradbury
James Chadwick
John Cockcroft
Charles Critchfield
Harry Daghlian
John R. Dunning
Enrico Fermi
Richard Feynman
Val Fitch
James Franck
Klaus Fuchs
Maria Goeppert Mayer
George Kistiakowsky
George Koval
Willard Libby
Edwin McMillan
Mark Oliphant
George B. Pegram
Norman Ramsey Jr.
Isidor Isaac Rabi
James Rainwater
Bruno Rossi
Glenn Seaborg
Emilio Segrè
Louis Slotin
Henry DeWolf Smyth
Leo Szilard
Edward Teller
Stanisław Ulam
John von Neumann
John Wheeler
Eugene Wigner
Robert Wilson
Leona Woods
Chien-Shiung Wu
Operations
Alsos Mission
Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Operation Crossroads
Operation Peppermint
Project Alberta
Silverplate
509th Composite Group
Enola Gay
Bockscar
The Great Artiste
Weapons
Fat Man
Little Boy
Pumpkin bomb
Thin Man
Related topics
African Americans
Atomic Energy Act of 1946
Bismuth phosphate process
B Reactor
British contribution
Calutron Girls
Chicago Pile-1
Chicago Pile-3
Demon core
Einstein–Szilard letter
Feed materials
Franck Report
Interim Committee
K-25 Project
Los Alamos Primer
Nobel Prize laureates
Oppenheimer security hearing
Plutonium
Quebec Agreement
RaLa Experiment
S-1 Executive Committee
S-50 Project
Smyth Report
Special Engineer Detachment
Uranium
X-10 Graphite Reactor
Y-12 Project
Category
Empire of Japan
Overview
Agriculture
Censorship
Demographics
Economy
Economic history
Education
System
Eugenics
Foreign commerce and shipping
Industrial production
Kokkashugi
Militarism
Nationalism
Essentialism
Politics
State Shinto
Kazoku
Emperors
Meiji
(Mutsuhito)
Taishō
(Yoshihito)
Shōwa
(Hirohito)
Symbols
Flag of Japan
Rising Sun Flag
National emblems of Japan
Imperial crest
Government crest
State Seal
Privy Seal
Kimigayo
Policies
Constitution
Charter Oath
Foreign relations
Imperial Rescript on Education
Imperial Rule Assistance Association
Yokusan Sonendan
Great Japan Youth Party
Kokutai
Mokusatsu
National Spiritual Mobilization Movement
Peace Preservation Law
Political parties
Supreme Court of Judicature
Tokkō
Tonarigumi
Greater East Asia Conference
Senbu
Imperial Japanese Airways
Government
Administration
(ministries)
Imperial Household
Home Ministry
War
Army
Navy
Treasury
Foreign Affairs
Agriculture and Commerce
Commerce and Industry
Munitions
Colonial Affairs
Greater East Asia
East Asia Development Board (Kōain)
Legislative and
deliberative bodies
Daijō-kan
Privy Council
Gozen Kaigi
Imperial Diet
Peers
Representatives
Military
Armed Forces
Imperial General Headquarters
Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office
Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff
Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors
Senjinkun
military code
Nuclear weapons program
Kamikaze
War crimes
Supreme War Council
Conscription
Imperial Japanese Army
General Staff
Air Service
Railways and Shipping
Imperial Guard
Imperial Way Faction (Kōdōha)
Japanese holdout
Taiwan Army of Japan
Control Faction (Tōseiha)
Kempeitai
Imperial Japanese Navy
General Staff
Air Service
Marines
Tokkeitai
Fleet Faction
Treaty Faction
History
Historical precedent
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Imjin War
Meiji era
Meiji Restoration
Beipu uprising
Yun-lin massacre
Boshin War
Two Lords Incident
Satsuma Rebellion
First Sino-Japanese War
Triple Intervention
Boxer Rebellion
Anglo–Japanese Alliance
Russo-Japanese War
Invasion of Taiwan (1874)
Invasion of Taiwan (1895)
Taishō era
World War I
Entry
Siberian Intervention
General Election Law
Washington Naval Treaty
Manchuria–Mongolia problem
Taishō Democracy
Taishō Roman
Tapani incident
Truku War
Racial Equality Proposal
Shōwa era
Shōwa financial crisis
Jinan incident
London Naval Treaty
Musha Incident
Counterinsurgency in Manchuria
January 28 incident
Anti-Comintern Pact
Second Sino-Japanese War
Soviet–Japanese border conflicts
Rape of Nanking
Tripartite Pact
Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact
Japan during World War II
Pacific War
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Soviet–Japanese War
Surrender
Potsdam Declaration
Hirohito surrender broadcast
Occupation
Territories
Colonies
Karafuto
naichi
after 1943)
Chōsen
Kantō-shū
Nan'yō
Taiwan
Puppet states
Manchukuo
Mengjiang
Wang Jingwei regime
Second Philippine Republic
Empire of Vietnam
Kingdom of Kampuchea
Kingdom of Luang Prabang
State of Burma
Occupied territories
Borneo
Burma
Azad Hind
Dutch East Indies
French Indochina
Hong Kong
Malaya
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Ideology
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
Yen bloc
Other topics
Fukoku kyōhei
German pre–World War II industrial co-operation
Hakkō ichiu
Hokushin-ron
International Military Tribunal for the Far East
Internment camps
Japanese settlers in Manchuria
Nanshin-ron
Political dissidence
Shinmin no Michi
Shōwa Modan
Socialist thought
Sonnō jōi
Taiwanese Imperial Japan Serviceman
Yasukuni Shrine
Harry S. Truman
33rd
President of the United States
(1945–1953)
34th
Vice President of the United States
(1945)
U.S. Senator from Missouri
(1935–1945)
Presidency
Timeline
Inaugurations
first
second
Assassination attempt
1952 Puerto Rican constitutional referendum
State of the Union Address
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
Judicial appointments
Supreme Court
Sherman Minton Supreme Court nomination
Cabinet
Truman Balcony
White House Reconstruction
"The buck stops here"
Executive Orders
Presidential Proclamations
Eisenhower transition
Foreign policy
Truman Doctrine
Potsdam Conference
1945;
Agreement on Europe
Declaration to Japan
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
(1945)
War Brides Act
(1945)
Alien Fiancées and Fiancés Act
(1946)
Luce–Celler Act
(1946)
Executive Order 9835
(1947)
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(1947)
Hoover Commission
(1947)
National Security Act of 1947
U.S. Department of Defense
Joint Chiefs of Staff
National Security Council
National Security Resources Board
Air Force
Department
Central Intelligence Agency
Displaced Persons Act
(1948)
Key West Agreement
(1948)
Marshall Plan
(1948)
Joint Long Range Proving Grounds
(1949)
North Atlantic Treaty
1949;
NATO
Revolt of the Admirals
(1949)
Korean War
1950–1953;
U.N. Security Council Resolutions 82,
83
Defense Production Act of 1950
Relief of Douglas MacArthur
Office of Defense Mobilization
1950;
Science Advisory Committee
, 1951
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952
National Security Agency
(1952)
Fair Deal
Medal of Freedom
(1945)
Revenue Act of 1945
National Mental Health Act
1946;
National Institute of Mental Health
Atomic Energy Act of 1946
U.S. Atomic Energy Commission
Employment Act of 1946
Council of Economic Advisers
Flood Control Acts
1946
1948
1950
Fulbright Program
(1946)
Hill–Burton Act
(1946)
Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946
Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act of 1946
Federal Tort Claims Act
Legislative Reference Service
National School Lunch Act
(1946)
President's Committee on Civil Rights
(1946)
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
(1947)
Housing and Home Finance Agency
(1947)
Presidential Succession Act of 1947
Taft–Hartley Act
(1947)
Agricultural Act of 1948
Executive Order 9981
(1948)
Revenue Act of 1948
Agricultural Act of 1949
Housing Act of 1949
Dingell–Johnson Act
(1950)
Revenue Act of 1950
Excess profits tax
Unrelated Business Income Tax
Revenue Act of 1951
Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1952
1952 steel strike
Life
Early life and career
Presidential Library, Museum, and gravesite
Missouri Office and Courtroom
Truman Committee
1944 Democratic Party vice presidential candidate selection
The Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace
Homes
Birthplace
Harry S. Truman Farm Home
Harry S. Truman home and National Historic Site
Historic District
Blair House
Truman Little White House
Elections
United States Senate election in Missouri, 1934
1940
Democratic National Convention 1944
1948
1944 United States presidential election
1948
campaign
Dewey Defeats Truman
campaign song
Ferdinand Magellan
railcar
1952 Democratic Party presidential primaries
Legacy
Bibliography
Truman Day
Harry S Truman Building
Truman Dam and Reservoir
Harry S. Truman Scholarship
Truman Sports Complex
U.S. Postage stamps
Statue of Harry S. Truman
Public image
Give 'em Hell, Harry!
(1975 play and film)
Harry Truman
(1975 song by
Chicago
Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur
(1976 film)
MacArthur
(1977 film)
Backstairs at the White House
(1979 miniseries)
Truman
(1995 film)
Truman
(1997 documentary film)
The First Lady
(2022 TV series)
Oppenheimer
(2023 film)
Family
Bess Wallace Truman
(wife)
Margaret Truman
(daughter)
Martha Ellen Young Truman
(mother)
Clifton Truman Daniel
(grandson)
← Franklin D. Roosevelt
Dwight D. Eisenhower →
← Henry A. Wallace
Alben W. Barkley →
Category
United States in World War II
front
American music during World War II
United States aircraft production during World War II
Arizona during World War II
Nevada during World War II
New Mexico during World War II
G.I. Generation
Schools at War
Internment of German Americans
Internment of Italian Americans
Internment of Japanese Americans
American women
Women Airforce Service Pilots
Women's Army Corps
Woman's Land Army of America
Rosie the Riveter
Minorities
Hispanic Americans in World War II
Native Americans and World War II
Puerto Ricans in World War II
Military
participation
Army
Uniforms
Army Air Force
Marine Corps
Navy
Service medals
Medal of Honor recipients
Events
List of battles
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Normandy landings
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Minorities
African Americans
Tuskegee Airmen
Asian Americans
Chinese Americans
Japanese Americans
Jewish Americans
Diplomatic
participation
Lend-Lease
Destroyers-for-bases deal
Project Hula
World War II
Outline
Battles
Operations
Leaders
Allied
Axis
Commanders
Casualties
Conferences
General
Topics
Air warfare of World War II
In Europe
Blitzkrieg
Comparative military ranks
Cryptography
Declarations of war
Diplomacy
Governments in exile
Home front
Australian
United Kingdom
United States
Lend-Lease
Manhattan Project
British contribution
Military awards
Military equipment
Military production
Naval history
Nazi plunder
Opposition
Technology
Allied cooperation
Mulberry harbour
Total war
Strategic bombing
Puppet states
Women
Art and World War II
Music in World War II
Weather events during World War II
Theaters
Asia and Pacific
China
South-East Asia
Pacific
North and Central Pacific
South-West Pacific
Indian Ocean
Europe
Western Front
Eastern Front
Mediterranean and Middle East
North Africa
East Africa
Italy
West Africa
Atlantic
timeline
Americas
Aftermath
Chinese Civil War
Cold War
Decolonization
Division of Korea
First Indochina War
Expulsion of Germans
Greek Civil War
Indonesian National Revolution
Keelhaul
Marshall Plan
Occupation of Germany
Occupation of Japan
Osoaviakhim
Paperclip
Soviet occupations
Baltic
Hungary
Poland
Romania
Territorial changes of Germany
Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany
United Nations
War crimes
Allied war crimes
Soviet war crimes
Atrocities against prisoners of war
British war crimes
United States war crimes
German war crimes
forced labour
Wehrmacht war crimes
The Holocaust
Aftermath
Response
Nuremberg trials
Italian war crimes
Japanese war crimes
Nanjing Massacre
Unit 731
Prosecution
Croatian war crimes
Genocide of Serbs
Persecution of Jews
Romanian war crimes
Sexual violence
German military brothels
Camp brothels
Rape during the occupation of Germany
Japan
Poland
Manchuria
Rape during the liberation of France
Serbia
Sook Ching
Comfort women
Rape of Manila
Marocchinate
Participants
Allies
Algeria
Australia
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
from September 1944
Canada
China
Cuba
Czechoslovakia
Denmark
Ethiopia
Eswatini
(formerly Swaziland)
Finland
from September 1944
France
Free France
Greece
India
Indian Army
Italy
from September 1943
Liberia
Luxembourg
Mexico
Netherlands
Newfoundland
New Zealand
Norway
Philippines
Poland
Romania
from August 1944
Sierra Leone
South Africa
Southern Rhodesia
Soviet Union
Tuva
United Kingdom
British Empire
United States
Puerto Rico
Yugoslavia
Axis
Albania protectorate
Bulgaria
(until September 1944)
State of Burma
Republic of China (Wang Jingwei)
Independent State of Croatia
Finland
(until September 1944)
German Reich
Hungary
Azad Hind
Iraq
Italy
(until September 1943)
Italian Social Republic
Empire of Japan
Manchukuo
Mengjiang
Philippines
Romania
(until August 1944)
Slovak Republic
Thailand
Vichy France
Guangzhouwan
French Indochina
French Madagascar
Syria–Lebanon
French North Africa
French West Africa
Collaboration
Neutral
Afghanistan
Andorra
Bhutan
Ireland
Liechtenstein
Monaco
Portugal
San Marino
Saudi Arabia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Tibet
Turkey
Vatican City
Yemen
Resistance
Albania
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Czech lands
Denmark
Dutch East Indies
Estonia
Ethiopia
France
Germany
Greece
Hong Kong
Italy
Japan
Jews
Korea
Korean Liberation Army
Korean Volunteer Army
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malaya
Netherlands
Northeast China
Norway
Philippines
Poland
Romania
Thailand
Soviet Union
Slovakia
Western Ukraine
Vietnam
Quốc dân Đảng
Viet Minh
Yugoslavia
POWs
Finnish prisoners in the Soviet Union
French prisoners
German prisoners
Soviet Union
Azerbaijan
United Kingdom
United States
Italian prisoners
Germany
Soviet Union
Japanese prisoners
Soviet Union
Polish prisoners
atrocities by Germans
Soviet Union
Romanian prisoners in the Soviet Union
Soviet prisoners
Finland
atrocities by Germans
Timeline
Prelude
Africa
Second Italo-Ethiopian War
Asia
Second Sino-Japanese War
Battles of Khalkhin Gol
Europe
Remilitarisation of the Rhineland
Anschluss
Munich Agreement
Occupation of Czechoslovakia
Operation Himmler
Italian invasion of Albania
1939
Invasion of Poland
Battle of the Atlantic
Phoney War
First Battle of Changsha
Battle of South Guangxi
Winter War
1939–1940 Winter Offensive
1940
Norwegian campaign
German invasion of Denmark
Battle of Zaoyang–Yichang
German invasion of Luxembourg
German invasion of the Netherlands
German invasion of Belgium
Battle of France
Dunkirk evacuation
Battle of Britain
Battle of the Mediterranean
North Africa
West Africa
British Somaliland
Hundred Regiments Offensive
Baltic states
Eastern Romania
Japanese invasion of French Indochina
Italian invasion of Greece
Compass
1941
Battle of South Henan
Battle of Shanggao
Invasion of Yugoslavia
German invasion of Greece
Battle of Crete
Anglo-Iraqi War
Battle of South Shanxi
Syria–Lebanon campaign
East African campaign
Invasion of the Soviet Union
Summer War
Finland
Silver Fox
Lithuania
Battle of Kiev
Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran
Second Battle of Changsha
Siege of Leningrad
Battle of Moscow
Bombing of Gorky
Siege of Sevastopol
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Niʻihau incident
Japanese invasion of Thailand
Fall of Hong Kong
Fall of the Philippines
Battle of Guam
Battle of Wake Island
Malayan campaign
Battle of Borneo
Japanese invasion of Burma
Third Battle of Changsha
Greek famine of 1941–1944
1942
Fall of Singapore
Battle of the Java Sea
St Nazaire Raid
Battle of Christmas Island
Battle of the Coral Sea
Battle of Madagascar
Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign
Battle of Gazala
Battle of Dutch Harbor
Battle of Midway
Aleutian Islands campaign
Kiska
Attu
Blue
First Battle of El Alamein
Battle of Stalingrad
Kokoda Track campaign
Rzhev
Jubilee
Second Battle of El Alamein
Guadalcanal campaign
Torch
Chinese famine of 1942–1943
1943
Black May
Tunisian campaign
Battle of West Hubei
Battle of Attu
Bombing of Gorky
Battle of Kursk
Allied invasion of Sicily
Smolensk
Solomon Islands campaign
Cottage
Battle of the Dnieper
Allied invasion of Italy
Armistice of Cassibile
Burma
Northern Burma and Western Yunnan
Changde
Second Battle of Kiev
Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign
Tarawa
Makin
Bengal famine of 1943
1944
Tempest
Monte Cassino
Anzio
Korsun–Cherkassy
Narva
U-Go
Imphal
Ichi-Go
Kohima
Overlord
Neptune
Mariana and Palau
Bagration
Western Ukraine
Second Battle of Guam
Tannenberg Line
Warsaw Uprising
Eastern Romania
Liberation of Paris
Dragoon
Gothic Line
Belgrade offensive
Battle of San Marino
Lapland
Market Garden
Estonia
Crossbow
Pointblank
Vietnamese famine of 1944–1945
Philippines (1944–1945)
Leyte
Syrmian Front
Hungary
Budapest
Burma (1944–1945)
Ardennes
Bodenplatte
Dutch famine of 1944–1945
1945
Vistula–Oder
Battle of Manila
Battle of Iwo Jima
Indochina
Vienna offensive
Project Hula
Western invasion of Germany
Bratislava–Brno offensive
Battle of Okinawa
Second Guangxi campaign
West Hunan
Italy (Spring 1945)
Battle of Berlin
Prague offensive
Surrender of Germany
document
Borneo
Taipei
Naval bombardment of Japan
Manchuria
Atomic bombings
Debate
South Sakhalin
Kuril Islands
Shumshu
Surrender of Japan
Potsdam Declaration
document
End of World War II in Asia
World portal
Bibliography
Category
History of the United States
Timeline
Outline
Events
Pre-Colonial
Geological
Pre-Columbian era
Colonial
Exploration of North America
European colonization
Native American epidemics
Settlement of Jamestown
Thirteen Colonies
Atlantic slave trade
King William's War
Queen Anne's War
Dummer's War
First Great Awakening
War of Jenkins' Ear
King George's War
Prelude to Revolution
American Enlightenment
French and Indian War
Proclamation of 1763
Sugar Act
Stamp Act Congress
Sons of Liberty
Virginia Association
Boston Massacre
Boston Tea Party
Intolerable Acts
First Continental Congress
Continental Association
1776–1789
American Revolution
War
Second Continental Congress
Virginia Declaration of Rights
Lee Resolution
Declaration of Independence
Treaty of Paris
Confederation period
Articles of Confederation
and Perpetual Union
Pennsylvania Mutiny
Shays' Rebellion
Northwest Ordinance
Constitutional Convention
Drafting and ratification of the Constitution
1789–1815
Bill of Rights
Federalist Era
Whiskey Rebellion
Quasi-War
Jeffersonian era
Louisiana Purchase
War of 1812
1815–1849
Era of Good Feelings
Missouri Compromise
Monroe Doctrine
Jacksonian era
Trail of Tears
Nat Turner's slave rebellion
Nullification crisis
Westward expansion
Mexican–American War
Seneca Falls Convention
First Industrial Revolution
Second Great Awakening
1849–1865
Antebellum Era
California Gold Rush
Greater Reconstruction
Prelude to War
Compromise of 1850
Fugitive Slave Act
Kansas–Nebraska Act
Bleeding Kansas
Dred Scott decision
Election of Lincoln
Secession
Civil War
Emancipation Proclamation
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
1865–1917
Reconstruction era
Amendments
First transcontinental railroad
Ku Klux Klan
Enforcement Acts
Compromise of 1877
End
Second Industrial Revolution
Gilded Age
The Gospel of Wealth
Assassination of James A. Garfield
Chinese Exclusion Act
Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act
Haymarket affair
Sherman Antitrust Act
Progressive Era
Spanish–American War
Imperialism
Assassination of William McKinley
Square Deal
Nadir of American race relations
1917–1945
World War I
Paris Peace Conference
First Red Scare
Roaring Twenties
Prohibition
Women's suffrage
Tulsa race massacre
Second Klan
Bath School disaster
Harlem Renaissance
Great Depression
Wall Street crash of 1929
Dust Bowl
New Deal
World War II
Pearl Harbor
home front
Manhattan Project
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
1945–1964
Strike wave of 1945–1946
Start of Cold War
Truman Doctrine
Early Cold War
North Atlantic Treaty
Korean War
Ivy Mike
McCarthyism
Post-war boom
Project Mercury
Civil Rights Movement
Early–mid Cold War
Cuban Missile Crisis
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
1964–1980
Great Society
Space Race
Project Gemini
Apollo program
Mid Cold War
Détente
Vietnam War
Fall of Saigon
Assassination of Malcolm X
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
Counterculture
Second-wave feminism
Gay liberation
Stonewall riots
Kent State massacre
Roe v. Wade
Watergate scandal
Pardon of Richard Nixon
Assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk
Iran hostage crisis
Moral Majority
1980–1991
Reagan era
Presidential elections
1980
1984
1988
Reaganomics
Iran–Contra affair
Crack epidemic
Late Cold War
Invasion of Grenada
Reagan Doctrine
End of the Cold War
Space Shuttle program
War on drugs
Invasion of Panama
1991–2016
Gulf War
NAFTA
Los Angeles riots
WTC bombing
Waco siege
Republican Revolution
Oklahoma City bombing
Columbine
Bush v. Gore
September 11 attacks
War on terror
War in Afghanistan
Iraq War
2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season
Hurricane Katrina
Virginia Tech shooting
Great Recession
Killing of Osama bin Laden
2012 Benghazi attack
Rise in mass shootings
Tucson
Aurora
Sandy Hook
Orlando
Hurricane Sandy
Black Lives Matter
Obergefell v. Hodges
2016–present
2016 presidential election
Trumpism
Unite the Right rally
Continued rise in mass shootings
Las Vegas
Parkland
El Paso
Uvalde
2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season
Harvey
Irma
Maria
COVID-19 pandemic
recession
George Floyd protests
Murder
Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election
January 6 attack
Afghanistan withdrawal
Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization
Support of Ukraine
2023 labor strikes
2023 banking crisis
Indictments of Donald Trump
Attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania
2025 shootings of Minnesota legislators
Assassination of Charlie Kirk
Topics
American Century
Antisemitism
Cultural
Cinema
Music
Newspapers
Sports
Demography
Immigration
Economy
Banking
Education
Higher education
Flag
Government
Abortion
Capital punishment
Civil Rights
Corruption
The Constitution
Debt ceiling
Direct democracy
Foreign policy
Law enforcement
Postal service
Taxation
Voting rights
Journalism
Merchant Marine
Military
Army
Marine Corps
Navy
Air Force
Space Force
Coast Guard
Party Systems
First
Second
Third
Fourth
Fifth
Sixth
Seventh
Religion
Genocide
Slavery
Sexual slavery
Technology and industry
Agriculture
Labor
Lumber
Medicine
Railway
Groups
African American
Asian American
Chinese American
Filipino American
Indian American
Japanese American
Korean American
Thai American
Vietnamese American
European American
Albanian American
English American
Estonian American
Finnish American
Irish American
Italian American
Lithuanian American
Polish American
Serbian American
Hispanic and Latino American
Mexican American
Jewish American
Middle Eastern American
Egyptian American
Iranian American
Iraqi American
Lebanese American
Palestinian American
Saudi American
Native Americans
Cherokee
Comanche
Women
LGBTQ
Gay men
Lesbians
Transgender people
Places
Territorial evolution
Admission to the Union
Historical regions
American frontier
Manifest destiny
Indian removal
Regions
New England
The South
The West Coast
States
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Federal District
Washington, D.C.
Insular areas
American Samoa
Guam
Northern Mariana Islands
Puerto Rico
U.S. Virgin Islands
Outlying islands
Baker Island
Howland Island
Jarvis Island
Johnston Atoll
Kingman Reef
Midway Atoll
Navassa Island
Palmyra Atoll
Wake Island
Cities
Urban history
Cities
List of years
Historiography
Category
Portal
Strategic bombing during World War II
Area bombardment
Aerial bombing of cities
Area bombing directive
Firestorm
Strategic bombing
V-weapons
European theatre
Austria
Innsbruck
Vienna
Wiener Neustadt
Belgium
Kortrijk
Mortsel
Nivelles
Ostend
Sint-Niklaas
Tielt
Tienen
Veurne
Waremme
Denmark
Aarhus
Copenhagen
Nexø
Rønne
Estonia
Narva
Tallinn
France
Rennes
Caen
Le Havre
Mailly-le-Camp
Royan
Saint-Leu-d'Esserent
Germany
Battle of
the Ruhr
Bochum
Cologne
Dortmund
Duisburg
Düsseldorf
Essen
Gelsenkirchen
Krefeld
Wuppertal
Other cities
Aachen
Augsburg
Aschersleben
Baden-Baden
Bamberg
Berlin
Bocholt
Braunschweig
Bremen
Breslau
Celle
Chemnitz
Crailsheim
Darmstadt
Dessau
Dietzenbach
Dresden
Emden
Frankfurt
Freiburg (Axis)
Freiburg (Allies)
Friedrichshafen
Giessen
Göttingen
Halberstadt
Halle
Hamburg
Hanau
Hannover
Heilbronn
Hildesheim
Jena
Kaiserslautern
Karlsruhe
Kassel
Kleve
Königsberg
Leipzig
Lübeck
Ludwigshafen / Oppau
Lüneburg
Mainz
Magdeburg
Mannheim
Marburg
Moers
Münster
Munich
Nordhausen
Nuremberg
Obersalzberg
Osnabrück
Paderborn
Peenemünde
Pforzheim
Potsdam
Rostock
Saarbrücken
Schweinfurt
Schwerin
Siegen
Stralsund
Stuttgart
Ulm
Wesel
Wilhelmshaven
Worms
Würzburg
Hungary
Budapest
Kassa
Italy
Alessandria
Ancona
Bari
Benevento
Bologna
Cagliari
Cassino
Catania
Ferrara
Foggia
Frascati
Genoa
Gorla
Grosseto
Livorno
Messina
Milan
Naples
Padua
Palermo
Pescara
Pisa
Reggio Calabria
Rimini
Rome
Terni
Treviso
Trieste
Turin
Verona
Vicenza
Viterbo
Zadar
Netherlands
Amsterdam (Axis)
Amsterdam (Allied)
Breskens
Doetinchem
Eindhoven
Enschede
Enkhuizen
Middelburg
Nijmegen
Nijverdal
Rotterdam (Axis)
Rotterdam (Allied)
The Hague
Venlo
Westkapelle
Zutphen
Norway
Hammerfest
Namsos
Poland
Frampol
Warsaw
Wieluń
Romania
Bucharest
Ploiești
Timișoara
Soviet Union
Gorky
Leningrad
Minsk
Stalingrad
Switzerland
Schaffhausen
Stein am Rhein
Zürich and Basel
United
Kingdom
Battle of Britain
Baedeker Blitz
The Blitz
Barrow-in-Furness
Bath
Belfast
Birmingham
Bournemouth
Brighton
Bristol
Cardiff
Clydebank
Coventry
Exeter
Greenock
Hull
Leeds
Liverpool
London
Manchester
Norwich
Nottingham
Plymouth
Sheffield
Southampton
Swansea
Yugoslavia
Belgrade
1941
1944
Podgorica
Sarajevo
Other countries
Bulgaria
(Sofia)
Croatia
(Zagreb)
Finland
(Helsinki)
Ireland
(Dublin)
San Marino
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
(Prague)
Slovakia
(Bratislava)
Vatican
Pacific War
Burma
Burma campaign
Mandalay
Allied Rangoon
China
Chongqing
Hong Kong
Nanjing
Shanghai
Wuhan
Indonesia
Sukabumi
Surabaya
Japan
Akita
Aomori
Chiba
Fukui
Fukuoka
Gifu
Hamamatsu
Hiratsuka
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Kobe
Kōfu
Kumagaya
Kure
Nagaoka
Nagoya
Naha
Numazu
Okazaki
Osaka
Rabaul
Sabang
Sendai
Shizuoka
Tokyo
10 March 1945
Toyohashi
Toyokawa
Utsunomiya
Yawata
June 1944
Yokkaichi
Colonies
Taihoku
(Taiwan)
Singapore
Allied Singapore
Axis Singapore
Australia
Broome
Darwin
United States
Oregon mountains
Pearl Harbor
Unalaska
Other cities
Bangkok
(Thailand)
Colombo
(Sri Lanka)
George Town
(Malaysia)
Kuala Lumpur
(Malaysia)
Manila
(Philippines)
Mediterranean and
Middle East
Mandatory Palestine
Acre
Haifa
Jaffa
Tel Aviv
Other areas
Bahrain
Cyprus
Gibraltar
Malta
North Africa
Chad
Fort Lamy
Boeing
B-29 Superfortress family
Bombers
Boeing
B-29
B-29D
KB-29
XB-39
XB-44
B-50
YB-50C
B-54
P2B
Tupolev
Tu-4
Tu-80
Tu-85
Tankers
Transports
Boeing
C-97
KC-97
Tupolev
Tu-75
Aero Spacelines
Pregnant Guppy
Super Guppy
Mini Guppy
Airliners
Boeing
377 Stratocruiser
Tupolev
Tu-70
AEW
KJ-1 AEWC
Topics
Battle of Kansas
Operators
Silverplate
Survivors
Tip Tow
Variants
Accidents and incidents
1948 Bleaklow crash
1948 Lake Mead crash
1948 Waycross crash
1950 Fairfield-Suisun crash
Pan Am Flight 202
(1952)
1954 Prestwick air disaster
Pan Am Flight 845/26
(1955)
Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2
(1956)
Pan Am Flight 6
(1956)
Pan Am Flight 7
(1956)
Notable aircraft
Big Stink
Bockscar
Dauntless Dotty
Dave's Dream
Doc
Enola Gay
FIFI
Full House
Jabit III
Kee Bird
Laggin' Dragon
Lucky Lady II
Luke the Spook
Necessary Evil
Next Objective
Some Punkins
Strange Cargo
Straight Flush
The Great Artiste
Top Secret
Up An' Atom
Notable flights
1 November 1944 reconnaissance sortie over Japan
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
In media
Boeing B-29 Superfortress in fiction
Birth of the B-29
(1945)
The Wild Blue Yonder
(1951)
Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb
(1980)
See also:
Boeing B-17 family
Portals
Japan
Nuclear technology
United States
Authority control databases
National
Czech Republic
Other
Yale LUX
Retrieved from "
Categories
1945 in Japan
1945 in military history
1945 in the environment
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
August 1945 in Asia
Explosions in 1945
History of Hiroshima
History of Nagasaki
History of the Manhattan Project
Presidency of Harry S. Truman
Strategic bombing conducted by the United States
Military history of Hiroshima Prefecture
Military history of Nagasaki Prefecture
Filmed deaths in Asia
Hidden categories:
CS1 uses Japanese-language script (ja)
CS1 Japanese-language sources (ja)
CS1 maint: deprecated archival service
Articles with short description
Short description is different from Wikidata
Good articles
Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages
Wikipedia indefinitely move-protected pages
Use American English from December 2025
All Wikipedia articles written in American English
Use dmy dates from August 2025
Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
Articles containing Japanese-language text
Pages with Japanese IPA
Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2025
All articles containing potentially dated statements
All articles lacking reliable references
Articles lacking reliable references from May 2018
Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2024
Pages using Sister project links with wikidata namespace mismatch
Pages using Sister project links with hidden wikidata
Articles with LibriVox links
Webarchive template wayback links
Articles containing video clips
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Add topic